Toner container and image forming apparatus

ABSTRACT

A toner container detachably attached to a toner-container holder of a main body of an image forming apparatus includes a container body that includes an opening, and discharges toner contained in the container body, from the opening; and a held portion that is held by the toner-container holder in a non-rotating manner. The held portion includes an open/close member for opening/closing the toner outlet in synchronization with an attachment/detachment operation of the held portion to/from the toner-container holder.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/566,897filed Dec. 5, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,835,675 which claims the benefitof U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/850,675, filed Oct. 11, 2006and entitled “Toner Container and Image Forming Device”, each of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

The inventions in this application are related to the inventionsdisclosed in the following Japanese patent applications: 2005-167298filed Jun. 7, 2005, 2005-198355 filed Jul. 7, 2005, 2005-203370 filedJul. 12, 2005, 2005-223438 filed Aug. 1, 2005, 2005-304216 filed Oct.19, 2005, 2005-313616 filed Oct. 28, 2005, 2006-013293 filed Jan. 23,2006, and 2006-029246 filed Feb. 7, 2006, and PCT patent applicationPCT/JP2006/311391 filed Jun. 7, 2006, each of which is incorporatedherein by reference and may be utilized with any embodiment or featuredisclosed herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a toner container detachablyattached to the main body of an image forming apparatus to supply tonerto be used in the image forming process, and the image forming apparatusincluding the same.

2. Description of the Related Art

In conventional image forming apparatuses using an electrophotographicsystem such as copying machines, printers, facsimiles, or multifunctionproducts provided with these functions, a cylindrical toner containerfor supplying toner to a developing device is known (see, for example,Patent document 1, Patent document 2, and Patent document 3).

In Patent document 1 and the like, a toner container (toner bottle,agent storage container) replaceably installed in a toner-containerholder (bottle holder, attachment portion) of the main body of the imageforming apparatus mainly includes a container body and a to-be-heldportion (hereinafter, “held portion”) (cap portion, cap). Aspiral-shaped projection is provided along the inner circumferentialsurface of the container body, and the toner contained in the containerbody is conveyed toward an opening through rotation of the containerbody. The held portion communicates with the opening of the containerbody, and it is non-rotatably held by the toner-container holder, i.e.,it does not rotate with the container body. The toner output from theopening of the container body is discharged from a toner outlet providedin the held portion. Thereafter, the toner discharged from the toneroutlet of the held portion is supplied to the developing device.

The toner container configured in the above manner can reduce tonerstain upon replacement of the toner container as compared with tonercontainers (see, for example, Patent document 5 and Patent document 6)each of which has no held portion and directly supplies toner from theopening of the container body to the developing device. Morespecifically, because the toner outlet of the held portion is opened orclosed in synchronization with part of attachment/detachment operation(rotating operation) of the toner container, such trouble that theuser's hands become stained with toner by touching the toner outlet canbe suppressed. Further, the toner outlet is formed downwardly in thelower part of the toner container in the vertical direction, and whenthe toner container is getting empty, the amount of toner near the toneroutlet can be reduced due to the drop by its own weight. Therefore, thetoner stain in the toner outlet upon replacement of the toner containeris reduced.

More specifically, in Patent document 1 and the like, when the tonercontainer is to be attached to the toner-container holder in the mainbody of the apparatus, at first, a main-body cover (stack portion) isopened upwardly and the toner-container holder is exposed. Then, thetoner container is placed on the toner-container holder from the upperside thereof. Thereafter, a handle integrally provided to the heldportion is held, so that the held portion is rotated (rotatingoperation). With this operation, the position of the toner container isfinally fixed in the toner-container holder. Furthermore, the toneroutlet provided in the held portion is moved to the lower part inresponse to the rotation of the held portion, and a shutter opens thetoner outlet downwardly so as to resist the biasing force of a spring.

On the other hand, Patent document 4 or the like discloses a tonerstorage container having a bag container and a cap member. A toneroutlet of the cap member is opened/closed in synchronization with apartial operation (rotating operation of an open/close folder) of theattachment/detachment operation of the toner storage container, for thepurpose of reducing toner stain (toner scatter) occurring upon theattachment/detachment operation.

More specifically, when the toner storage container is attached to theapparatus body, at first, an open/close holder (open/close folder) isrotated around a hinge and the upper side of the open/close holder isexposed. Then, the toner storage container is set in the open/closeholder. Thereafter, the open/close holder with the toner storagecontainer set therein is rotated (rotating operation) around the hinge.With this operation, the position of the toner storage container isfinally fixed in the apparatus body. Furthermore, a plug member (shuttermember) is pushed by a nozzle (toner conveying pipe) in response to therotation of the open/close holder so as to resist the biasing force of aspring, to open the toner outlet sealed by a packing (G seal).

-   Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2004-287404-   Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2001-5286-   Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2000-310901-   Patent document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2004-161371-   Patent document 5: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2000-338758-   Patent document 6: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.    2003-233248

Each of the toner containers disclosed in Patent documents 1 to 3 or sohas less toner stain in the toner outlet as compared with that in Patentdocuments 5 and 6 or so, and therefore, it can be expected to obtain theeffect of preventing such trouble that the user's hands become stainedwith toner by touching the toner outlet. However, the toner containersin Patent documents 1 to 3 or so are disadvantages in terms ofoperability/workability upon its attachment/detachment (replacement).

A first disadvantage is such that the attachment/detachment operationto/from the toner-container holder is implemented with a plurality ofoperations. More specifically, the attachment/detachment operation ofthe toner container includes the plurality of operations such as anoperation of opening/closing the main-body cover, an operation ofplacing/removing the toner container on/from the toner-container holder,and an operation of rotating the held portion.

A second disadvantage is such that it is difficult for the user to checkthat the operation is performed properly nearly until the completion ofthe attachment operation. More specifically, the user cannot feelcertain that the operation is correct at the point in time when theoperation of opening the main-body cover and the operation of placingthe toner container on the toner-container holder are complete.Thereafter, by rotating the held portion to fix the position of the heldportion, the user gains a click feeling of the held portion, and feelscertain that no erroneous operation is done.

A third disadvantage is such that the upper side of the toner-containerholder is restricted in terms of layout. More specifically, to place thetoner container on the toner-container holder from the upper side, theoperation of opening/closing the main-body cover in the verticaldirection is needed. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure space requiredfor layout to open/close the main-body cover and place/remove the tonercontainer. This causes reduction in operability/workability inattachment and detachment of the toner container when a scanner(document reader) or the like is provided above the toner-containerholder.

On the other hand, in the toner storage container described in Patentdocument 4 or the like, the plug member is pushed by the nozzle inresponse to the opening operation of the open/close holder, to open thetoner outlet sealed by the packing. Therefore, the effect of reducingoccurrence of toner stain can be expected. However, the toner storagecontainer according to Patent document 4 or the like also has somedisadvantages in terms of operability/workability upon itsattachment/detachment.

A first disadvantage is such that the toner amount of the toner storagecontainer cannot be increased and the frequency of replacement of thetoner storage container therefore increases. The toner storage containerhas a longitudinal bag container for containing toner. The bag containeris arranged so that it stands vertically. Therefore, if the capacity ofthe bag container is to be increased, the height of the toner storagecontainer needs to be increased. This increases the height of theopen/close holder, thereby affecting the layout in the height of thewhole image forming apparatus. Therefore, the toner amount of the tonerstorage container cannot be increased so much, and the replacementfrequency increases thereby as compared with the toner containers (inwhich the horizontal direction is set as the longitudinal direction)according to Patent document 1 and the like.

A second disadvantage is such that it is difficult for the user to feelcertain that no erroneous operation is done. More specifically, becausethe plug member opens/closes the toner outlet in synchronization withthe open/close operation of the open/close holder, it is difficult forthe user to feel if the toner outlet is actually opened or closedbecause the user does not touch the toner storage container during theoperation.

The present invention has been achieved to solve at least theconventional problems, and it is an object of the present invention toprovide a toner container with high operability/workability during itsreplacement and capable of reliably reducing occurrence of toner stain,and an image forming apparatus including the same.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to at least partially solve theproblems in the conventional technology.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a toner containerdetachably attached to a toner-container holder of a main body of animage forming apparatus includes a container body that contains tonerand that includes an opening for discharging toner; and a held portionthat includes a toner outlet for discharging the toner discharged fromthe opening, and that discharges the toner discharged from the opening,from the toner outlet, and is held by the toner-container holder in anon-rotating manner, wherein the held portion includes an open/closemember for opening/closing the toner outlet in synchronization with anattachment/detachment operation of the held portion to/from thetoner-container holder.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an image formingapparatus includes the above toner container.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and technical andindustrial significance of this invention will be better understood byreading the following detailed description of presently preferredembodiments of the invention, when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic of a printer as an image formingapparatus;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an imaging unit of the image formingapparatus;

FIG. 3 is a schematic of a toner supply path of the image formingapparatus;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a part of a toner-container holder;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a toner container;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section of a head side of the toner container;

FIG. 7 is a schematic of the toner container when viewed from the Mdirection in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8A is a perspective view of one example of a stirring member;

FIG. 8B is a schematic of the one example of the stirring member whenviewed from the M direction in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8C is a side view of the one example of the stirring member;

FIG. 9 is a cross-section of another example of the head side of thetoner container;

FIG. 10 is a schematic of the toner-container holder;

FIG. 11 is a schematic of a nozzle;

FIG. 12 is a schematic of how a yellow toner container is attached tothe toner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 13 is a schematic of how the attachment of the toner container isprogressed when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 14 is a schematic of the toner container attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 15 is a schematic of how the toner container is attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the holder;

FIG. 16 is a schematic of the toner container attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the holder;

FIG. 17 is a cross-section of a head side of a toner container accordingto a second embodiment;

FIG. 18A is a schematic of how the yellow toner container is attached tothe toner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 18B is a cross-section of a portion around a holder of a heldportion when the yellow toner container is attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the upper side;

FIG. 19A is a schematic of the toner container attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 19B is a cross-section of the portion around the holder when thetoner container is attached to the toner-container holder when viewedfrom the upper side;

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of a toner container according to a thirdembodiment;

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of arm pairs provided in a toner-containerholder according to a fourth embodiment,

FIG. 22 is an exploded perspective view of the arm pair;

FIG. 23 is a schematic of a relation between the arm pairs and the heldportion when the yellow toner container is to be attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the upper side;

FIG. 24 is a schematic of the relation between the arm pairs and theheld portion when the attachment of the toner container is progressedwhen viewed from the upper side;

FIG. 25 is a schematic of the relation between the arm pairs and theheld portion when the toner container is attached to the toner-containerholder when viewed from the upper side;

FIG. 26 is a schematic of the arm pairs when a toner container accordingto a fifth embodiment is attached to the toner-container holder;

FIG. 27A is a schematic of how the yellow toner container is attached tothe toner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 27B is a schematic of the portion around the holder when the yellowtoner container is to be attached to the toner-container holder whenviewed from the upper side;

FIG. 28A is a schematic of how the attachment of the toner container isprogressed when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 28B is a schematic of the portion around the holder of the heldportion when the attachment of the toner container is progressed whenviewed from the upper side;

FIG. 29A is a schematic of the toner container attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 29B is a schematic of the portion around the holder when the tonercontainer is attached to the toner-container holder when viewed from theupper side;

FIG. 30A is a schematic of how a toner container according to a seventhembodiment is attached to the toner-container holder;

FIG. 30B is a schematic of how the toner container according to theseventh embodiment is attached to the toner-container holder;

FIG. 31 is a perspective view of a toner container according to aneighth embodiment;

FIG. 32 is a cross-section of a toner container according to a ninthembodiment;

FIG. 33 is a cross-section of a toner container according to a tenthembodiment;

FIG. 34 is a schematic of a plate member;

FIG. 35 is a schematic of a toner supply path of the image formingapparatus;

FIG. 36 is a perspective view of a toner container;

FIG. 37 is a cross-section of a head side of the toner container;

FIG. 38 is a schematic of the toner container when viewed from the Mdirection in FIG. 37;

FIG. 39 is a schematic of how the yellow toner container is attached tothe toner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 40 is a schematic of how the attachment of the toner container isprogressed when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 41 is a schematic of the toner container attached to thetoner-container holder when viewed from the longitudinal direction;

FIG. 42 is a graph indicating a relation between a moving position ofthe held portion and a load applied from the arm pairs to the heldportion during the attachment operation of the toner container;

FIG. 43 is a perspective view of a toner container detachably attachedto a toner-container holder according to a twelfth embodiment;

FIG. 44 is a cross-section of the toner container according to thetwelfth embodiment;

FIG. 45 is a perspective view of a base plate provided in thetoner-container holder;

FIG. 46 is a partially enlarged cross-section of the base plate on whichthe toner container is set;

FIG. 47 is a schematic of the toner container in which a plug membercloses the toner outlet when viewed from the holder;

FIG. 48 is a schematic of the toner container when attached to thetoner-container holder and the plug member opens the toner outlet whenviewed from the holder;

FIG. 49 is a schematic of the holder and a snap mechanism for engagingthe holder with the held portion;

FIG. 50 is a perspective view of details of the components of theholder;

FIG. 51 is a schematic of how the plug member is displaced and theprotrusion portion slightly moves to the side where the toner outlet isopened;

FIG. 52 is a schematic of how a second protrusion portion closes a spacebetween the storage portion and the protrusion portion;

FIG. 53A is a perspective view of how the engaging portions of the tonercontainer face the positioning members of the toner-container holder;

FIG. 53B is a side view of how the engaging portion of the tonercontainer faces the positioning member of the toner-container holder;

FIG. 54A is a perspective view of how the held portion starts to beengaged with the positioning members;

FIG. 54B is a partially cross-sectional side view of how the heldportion starts to be engaged with the positioning members;

FIG. 55A is a perspective view of how the claw member is pushed downwardto a position where the attachment of the held portion is notobstructed;

FIG. 55B is a partially cross-sectional side view of how the claw memberis pushed downward to the position where the attachment of the heldportion is not obstructed;

FIG. 56A is a perspective view of how the claw member returns to thedefault position so that the claw member is engaged with the engagingportion of the plug member after the push shown in FIG. 55A and FIG.55B;

FIG. 56B is a partially cross-sectional side view of how the claw memberreturns to the default position so that the claw member is engaged withthe engaging portion of the plug member after the push shown in FIG. 55Aand FIG. 55B;

FIG. 57 is a schematic diagram of the front portion of four tonercontainers as arranged within an image forming apparatus;

FIGS. 58A-58C are perspective views of a cap or held portion of a blacktoner container;

FIG. 58D is a perspective view of a black toner container;

FIGS. 59A-59C are perspective views of a cap or held portion of a cyantoner container;

FIG. 59D is a perspective view of a cyan toner container;

FIGS. 60A-60C are perspective views of a cap or held portion of a yellowtoner container;

FIG. 60D is a perspective view of a yellow toner container;

FIGS. 61A-61C are perspective views of a cap or held portion of amagenta toner container;

FIG. 61D is a perspective view of a magenta toner container;

FIG. 62A is a perspective view of an exemplary image forming apparatuswhich receives the toner containers of the present invention;

FIG. 62B is a close-up of a perspective view of the toner containersinserted into the image forming apparatus;

FIG. 63A is a schematic view of en enclosure plate;

FIG. 63B is a perspective view of the enclosure plate;

FIG. 64A is a perspective view of an embodiment of a toner bottle, andFIG. 64B is a front view of the toner bottle;

FIGS. 65A and 65B are side views of a toner bottle of the presentinvention;

FIG. 66 is a side view of a variation of a toner bottle used with theinvention;

FIGS. 67A-67E are five views of another toner bottle which may be usedwith the invention;

FIGS. 67F(1)-67F(3) show a gear which is used with the toner bottle ofFIGS. 67A-67E;

FIG. 67G shows the toner bottle of FIGS. 67A-67E having the gear ofFIGS. 67F(1)-67F(3) mounted thereto; and

FIGS. 68A-68E are views of a toner bottle according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are explained in detailbelow with reference to the attached drawings. In the drawings, the sameor an equivalent portion is assigned with the same reference letter ornumeral, and explanation of the overlapping portions are simplified oromitted if not necessary.

First Embodiment

A first embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 16.

The configuration and operation of the overall image forming apparatusare explained first with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic of a printer as the image formingapparatus, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of an imaging unit of the imageforming apparatus, FIG. 3 is a schematic of a toner supply path thereof,and FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a part of a toner-container holder.

As shown in FIG. 1, four toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32Kcorrespond to colors (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) and aredetachably (replaceably) arranged in a toner-container holder 31 whichis provided in the upper side of the main body of the image formingapparatus 100.

Provided in the lower side of the toner-container holder 31 is anintermediate transfer unit 15. Imaging units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6Kcorresponding to the colors (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) arearranged in a tandem manner so as to face an intermediate transfer belt8 of the intermediate transfer unit 15.

Referring to FIG. 2, the imaging unit 6Y corresponding to yellowincludes a photosensitive drum 1Y, and also includes a charger 4Y, adeveloping device 5Y (developing unit), a cleaning unit 2Y, and adecharger (not shown), which are arranged around the photosensitive drum1Y. Imaging processes (charging process, exposing process, developingprocess, transfer process, and cleaning process) are preformed on thephotosensitive drum 1Y, and a yellow image is formed on thephotosensitive drum 1Y.

The other three imaging units 6M, 6C, and 6K have almost the sameconfiguration as the imaging unit 6Y corresponding to yellow, exceptdifferent toner colors to be used, and images corresponding to therespective toner colors are formed. Hereinafter, explanation of theother three imaging units 6M, 6C, and 6K is omitted, and only theimaging unit 6Y for yellow is explained below.

Referring to FIG. 2, the photosensitive drum 1Y is made to rotate in theclockwise in FIG. 2 by a drive motor (not shown). The surface of thephotosensitive drum 1Y is uniformly charged at the position of thecharger 4Y (charging process).

Thereafter, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y reaches a positionof radiating a laser light L emitted from an exposing device 7 (see FIG.1), where an exposing light is scanned to form an electrostatic latentimage for yellow (exposing process).

Thereafter, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y reaches a positionof facing the developing device 5Y, where the electrostatic latent imageis developed and a yellow toner image is formed (developing process).

Then, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y reaches a position offacing the intermediate transfer belt 8 and a primary-transfer biasroller 9Y, where the toner image on the photosensitive drum 1Y istransferred to the intermediate transfer belt 8 (primary transferprocess). At this time, a slight amount of non-transferred toner remainson the photosensitive drum 1Y.

Thereafter, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y reaches a positionof facing the cleaning unit 2Y, where the non-transferred tonerremaining on the photosensitive drum 1Y is mechanically collected by acleaning blade 2a (cleaning process).

The surface of the photosensitive drum 1Y finally reaches a position offacing the decharger (not shown), where the residual potential on thephotosensitive drum 1Y is removed.

The imaging processes are performed on the other imaging units 6M, 6C,and 6K in the same manner as those of the yellow imaging unit 6Y. Inother words, the laser light L based on image information is radiatedfrom the exposing device 7 provided in the lower side of the imagingunit toward each photosensitive drum of the imaging units 6M, 6C, and6K. More specifically, the exposing device 7 emits the laser light Lfrom its light source, and radiates the laser light L onto thephotosensitive drum through a plurality of optical elements whilescanning the laser light L by a polygon mirror which is rotated.

Then, respective color toner images formed on the photosensitive drumsthrough the developing process are superposedly transferred on theintermediate transfer belt 8. In this manner, a color image is formed onthe intermediate transfer belt 8.

Referring to FIG. 1, the intermediate transfer unit 15 includes theintermediate transfer belt 8, four primary-transfer bias rollers 9Y, 9M,9C, and 9K, a secondary-transfer backup roller 12, a cleaning backuproller 13, a tension roller 14, and an intermediate-transfer cleaningunit 10. The intermediate transfer belt 8 is stretched and supported bythree rollers 12 to 14, and is endlessly moved in the direction of anarrow (i.e., in the direction shown by the arrow a) in FIG. 1 by therotation of the roller 12.

The four primary-transfer bias rollers 9Y, 9M, 9C, and 9K sandwich theintermediate transfer belt 8 with the photosensitive drum 1Y andphotosensitive drums 1M, 1C, and 1K, to form each primary transfer nip.And the transfer bias inverse to the polarity of toner is applied to theprimary-transfer bias rollers 9Y, 9M, 9C, and 9K.

Then, the intermediate transfer belt 8 moves along the arrow direction(a direction) and sequentially passes through the primary transfer nipsof the primary-transfer bias rollers 9Y, 9M, 9C, and 9K. In this manner,the toner images for the colors on the photosensitive drums 1Y, 1M, 1C,and 1K are sequentially superposed on the intermediate transfer belt 8to perform primary transfer.

Thereafter, the intermediate transfer belt 8 with the toner images forthe colors superposedly transferred reaches the position of facing asecondary transfer roller 19. At this position, the secondary-transferbackup roller 12 sandwiches the intermediate transfer belt 8 with thesecondary transfer roller 19 to form a secondary transfer nip. Thefour-color toner images formed on the intermediate transfer belt 8 aretransferred to a transferred material P such as a transfer paperconveyed to the position of the secondary transfer nip. At this time,non-transferred toner which has not been transferred to the transferredmaterial P remains on the intermediate transfer belt 8.

Thereafter, the intermediate transfer belt 8 reaches the position of theintermediate-transfer cleaning unit 10, where the non-transferred toneron the intermediate transfer belt 8 is collected.

In this manner, a series of the transfer process performed on theintermediate transfer belt 8 is completed.

The transferred material P conveyed to the position of the secondarytransfer nip is conveyed thereto from a paper feed unit 26 provided inthe lower side of the apparatus body 100 through a paper feed roller 27and a registration roller pair 28.

More specifically, the transferred material P such as transfer paper isstored in plurality in the paper feed unit 26. When the paper feedroller 27 is made to rotate in the counterclockwise of FIG. 1, theuppermost transferred material P is fed to the rollers of theregistration roller pair 28.

The transferred material P conveyed to the registration roller pair 28once stops at the position of a roller nip between the registrationroller pair 28 that stops its rotation. Then, the registration rollerpair 28 is rotated in synchronization with the color images on theintermediate transfer belt 8, and the transferred material P is conveyedtoward the secondary transfer nip. In this manner, a desired color imageis transferred to the transferred material P.

The transferred material P with the color image transferred at theposition of the secondary transfer nip is conveyed to the position of afixing unit 20, where the color image transferred to the surface of thetransferred material P is fixed on the transferred material P under heatand pressure by a fixing roller and a pushing roller.

Thereafter, the transferred material P is ejected to the outside theapparatus through rollers of a paper-discharge roller pair 29. Thetransferred material P ejected to the outside the apparatus by thepaper-discharge roller pair 29 is sequentially stacked on the stackportion 30, as an output image.

In this manner, a series of the imaging forming processes in the imageforming apparatus is completed.

The configuration and the operation of the developing device in theimaging unit are explained in further detail below with reference toFIG. 2.

The developing device 5Y includes a developing roller 51Y that faces thephotosensitive drum 1Y, a doctor blade 52Y that faces the developingroller 51Y, two conveyor screws 55Y provided in developer storage units53Y and 54Y, and the density detection sensor 56Y for detecting tonerdensity in the developer. The developing roller 51Y includes a magnetfixed inside thereof and a sleeve rotating around the magnet.Two-component developer G containing carrier and toner is stored in thedeveloper storage units 53Y and 54Y. The developer storage unit 54Ycommunicates with a toner conveying pipe 43Y through the opening formedin the upper side of the developer storage unit 54Y.

The developing device 5Y configured in the above manner operates asfollows.

The sleeve of the developing roller 51Y rotates in the arrow direction(counterclockwise) of FIG. 2. The developer G carried on the developingroller 51Y by the magnetic field formed by the magnet moves along thedeveloping roller 51Y associated with rotation of the sleeve.

The developer G in the developing device 5Y is controlled so that theproportion (toner density) of the toner in the developer is in apredetermined range. More specifically, the toner contained in the tonercontainer 32Y is supplied to the developer storage unit 54Y through atoner supply device 59 (see FIG. 3) according to toner consumption inthe developing device 5Y. It is noted that each configuration andoperation of the toner supply device 59 and the toner container 32Y areexplained in detail later.

Thereafter, the toner supplied to the developer storage unit 54Ycirculates (movement in the vertical direction on the paper of FIG. 2)in the two developer storage units 53Y and 54Y while being mixed withthe developer G and stirred. The toner in the developer G is attractedto the carrier by frictional charge with the carrier, and is carried onthe developing roller 51Y together with the carrier by the magneticforce formed on the developing roller 51Y.

The developer G carried on the developing roller 51Y is conveyed in thearrow direction (counterclockwise) of FIG. 2 to reach the position ofthe doctor blade 52Y. At this position, the amount of developer is madeappropriate, and then the developer G on the developing roller 51Y isconveyed to the position (developing region) of facing thephotosensitive drum 1Y. The toner is attracted to the latent imageformed on the photosensitive drum 1Y by the electric field formed in thedeveloping region. Then, the developer G remaining on the developingroller 51Y reaches the upper side of the developer storage unit 53Yassociated with the rotation of the sleeve, where the developer G isseparated from the developing roller 51Y.

The toner supply device 59 that leads the toner contained in the tonercontainer 32Y (agent storage container) to the developing device 5Y isexplained in detail below with reference to FIG. 3.

For easy understanding, FIG. 3 depicts changed arrangement of the tonercontainer 32Y, toner supply paths 43Y, 60, 70, and 71, and thedeveloping device 5Y. Actually, in FIG. 3, the longitudinal direction ofthe toner container 32Y and part of the toner supply path is arranged inthe vertical direction on the paper (see FIG. 1).

Referring to FIG. 4, the toner (powder agent) in the toner containers32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K arranged in the toner-container holder 31 of theapparatus body 100 is supplied to each of the developing devices ifnecessary through the toner supply paths provided for each toner coloraccording to each toner consumption in the developing devices for thecolors. The four toner supply paths have almost the same configurationas one other except different toner color used for each imaging process.

More specifically, the toner container 32Y is set in the toner-containerholder 31 of the apparatus body 100, and a nozzle 70 (toner conveyingpipe) of the toner-container holder 31 is connected to a held portion34Y (cap) of the toner container 32Y. A plug member 34d (open/closemember) of the toner container 32Y is sandwiched between the nozzle 70and a claw member 76, and opens the toner outlet (supply port) of theheld portion 34Y in this state. This allows the toner contained in acontainer body 33Y of the toner container 32Y to be conveyed into thenozzle 70 through the toner outlet.

On the other hand, the other end of the nozzle 70 is connected to oneend of a tube 71 as a conveyor tube (71). The tube 71 is made offlexible material excellent in toner resistance, and the other endthereof is connected to a screw pump 60 (Mohno pump, powder pump) of thetoner supply device 59.

The tube 71 being the conveyor tube (71) is formed so that its internaldiameter is 4 to 10 mm. The material of the tube 71 is allowed to use arubber material such as polyurethane, nitrile, EPDM, and silicone, and aresin material such as polyethylene, and nylon. Such a flexible tube 71is used to enhance flexibility in layout of the toner supply path, thusdownsizing of the image forming apparatus.

The screw pump 60 is a suction-type uniaxial eccentric screw pump, andincludes a rotor 61, a stator 62, a suction port 63, a universal joint64, and a motor 66. The rotor 61, the stator 62, and the universal joint64 are accommodated in a casing (not shown). The stator 62 is a femalescrew member made of an elastic material such as rubber, and aspiral-shaped groove with double pitch is formed along the inside of thestator 62. The rotor 61 is a male screw member in which an axis made ofa rigid material such as metal is spirally formed, and is rotatablyinserted in the stator 62. One end of the rotor 61 is rotatably joinedto the motor 66 through the universal joint 64.

In the first embodiment, the spiral direction (turning direction) andthe rotational direction of the rotor 61 are set so as to match thespiral direction (turning direction) and the rotational direction of theprojection 33b formed in the container body 33Y of the toner container32Y.

The screw pump 60 configured in the above manner generates suction forceat the suction port 63 (air in the tube 71 is sent out to generate anegative pressure in the tube 71) by rotating the rotor 61 of the stator62 by the motor 66 in a predetermined direction (counterclockwise whenviewed from the upstream side in the toner conveying direction). Thisallows the toner in the toner container 32Y with the air to be sucked tothe suction port 63 through the tube 71. The toner sucked to the suctionport 63 is sent into a gap between the stator 62 and the rotor 61 and isfed to the other end side along the rotation of the rotor 61. The tonerfed is discharged from a feed port 67 of the screw pump 60, to besupplied to the developing device 5Y through the toner conveying pipe43Y (movement in the arrow direction indicated by a dotted line in FIG.3).

In the first embodiment, the rotor 61 of the screw pump 60 is made torotate in the counterclockwise viewed from the upstream side in thetoner conveying direction. The spiral direction (turning direction) ofthe rotor 61 is set to be a rightward direction. This setting androtation of the rotor 61 cause a spiral air flow spiraling in clockwiseto be created in the screw pump 60.

The toner container is explained below with reference to FIG. 5 to FIG.9.

As explained with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the four substantiallycylindrical toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K (toner bottles) aredetachably provided in the toner-container holder 31. The tonercontainers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K are replaced with new ones when theycome to the end of their lives (when almost all of toner contained isconsumed and the container becomes empty). The toner of each colorcontained in the toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K is supplied asnecessary to each developing device of the imaging units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and6K through each toner supply path explained with reference to FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the toner container 32Y. FIG. 6 is across-section of a head side (the side where the held portion 34Y isprovided) of the toner container 32Y. FIG. 7 is a schematic of the tonercontainer 32Y of FIG. 6 when viewed from the M direction in FIG. 6. FIG.8A is a perspective view of one example of a stirring member, FIG. 8B isa schematic of the one example of the stirring member when viewed fromthe M direction in FIG. 6, and FIG. 8C is a side view of the one exampleof the stirring member. FIG. 9 is a cross-section of another example ofthe head side of the toner container 32Y.

The other three toner containers 32M, 32C, and 32K have almost the sameconfiguration as the toner container 32Y containing yellow toner, exceptdifferent toner colors contained and locations of a concave portion 34mand a convex portion 34n. Hereinafter, explanation of the other threetoner containers 32M, 32C, and 32K is omitted, and only the tonercontainer 32Y containing yellow toner is explained below.

As shown in FIG. 5, the toner container 32Y mainly includes thecontainer body 33Y and the held portion 34Y (bottle cap or end) providedin the head thereof.

The head of the container body 33Y includes a gear 33c integrallyrotating with the container body 33Y, and an opening A (see FIG. 6). Theopening A is provided in the head of the container body 33Y (front endposition when it is attached), and is used to discharge the tonercontained in the container body 33Y into the space (cavity) of the heldportion 34Y.

The gear 33c is engaged with a drive gear 31g of a drive unit providedin the toner-container holder 31 of the apparatus body 100, to rotatethe container body 33Y around a rotating axis (indicated by a chain lineof FIG. 6). More specifically, the gear 33c is exposed from a notchedportion 34h formed in the held portion 34Y and engaged with the drivegear 31g of the apparatus body 100 in an engagement position D shown inFIG. 6 and FIG. 7. The driving force is transmitted from the drive gear31g to the gear 33c, and the container body 33Y is made to rotate in thecounterclockwise of FIG. 7. In the first embodiment, the drive gear 31gand the gear 33c are spur gears.

In the first embodiment, the toner container 32Y and the apparatus body100 are configured so that the held portion 34Y (or the container body33Y) is biased downwardly by the force applied from the drive gear 31gto the gear 33c when the drive gear 31g rotates in the arrow direction(clockwise) of FIG. 7 (mainly during toner supply).

More specifically, referring to FIG. 7, the engagement position Dbetween the gear 33c and the drive gear 31g is provided in a range Xfrom the uppermost portion of the gear 33c to the downstream sidethereof turning ¼ rotation (which does not include the uppermost portionand the position of the gear 33c turning ¼ rotation).

Based on such a configuration as above, component force acting downwardin the vertical direction is produced in force, by the drive gear 31g,which vertically acts on a gear surface of the gear 33c. Therefore, sealcapability for the nozzle 70 communicating with a toner outlet B ismaintained without large vertical fluctuation of the held portion 34Y,thus preventing toner scattering from near the toner outlet B.

In FIG. 7, a vertical line LL is shown at the front of the tonercontainer 32Y. The vertical line LL is centered at a front of the tonercontainer 32Y and intersects the plug member 34d. The engaging portion34g includes a flat vertical surface 34g2 and a lower flat horizontalsurface 34g3 that faces upwardly. The flat horizontal surface 34g3contacts the sliding portion 34c2 which is a flat vertical surface. Theflat vertical surface 34g2 is lower than the sliding portion 34c2. Theflat vertical surface 34g2 is closer to the vertical line LL than thesliding portion 34c2. On the opposite side of the vertical line LL are aflat vertical surface which corresponds to the flat vertical surface34g2 and a flat vertical surface which corresponds to the slidingportion 34c2. The flat vertical surface 34g2 and corresponding portionon the opposite side of line LL are a first pair of vertical exteriorsurfaces. The flat vertical surface which corresponds to the slidingportion 34c2 and the corresponding flat vertical surface on the oppositeside of the vertical line LL are a second pair of vertical exteriorsurfaces.

Referring to FIG. 5, a gripper 33d is provided in a rear end portion(bottom) of the container body 33Y so that the user can grip it forattachment/detachment of the toner container 32Y.

A spiral-shaped projection 33b is provided along the innercircumferential surface of the container body 33Y (spiral-shaped groovewhen viewed from the outer peripheral side). The spiral-shapedprojection 33b is used to discharge the toner from the opening A byrotating the container body 33Y in a predetermined direction. Thecontainer body 33Y configured in this manner and the gear 33c providedalong its circumferential surface can be manufactured by blow molding.

The toner container 32Y according to the first embodiment has a stirringmember 33f rotating together with the container body 33Y provided in theopening A (see FIG. 6). The stirring member 33f is a rod-shaped memberor a plate member which is extended from the space in the held portion34Y toward the container body 33Y and is provided at an angle to therotating axis (indicated by the chain line in FIG. 6). Rotation of thestirring member 33f together with the container body 33Y allowsimprovement of toner discharging capability from the opening A.Particularly, as shown in FIG. 8A, FIG. 8B, and FIG. 8C, the ring member33g2 with a pair of plate members 33g1, in which their respective slopesare opposite to each other, is provided at the position being a pointsymmetry with respect to the center of rotation. And when such a ringmember 33g2 is fixed into the opening A to form the stirring member, thetoner can continuously be scooped and discharged by its rotationalaction, and discharge capability is further improved. As shown in FIG.9, if the stirring member is extended up to a vertical toner dischargepath formed in a mortar shape (stirring member 33h), the toner dischargecapability is assumed to be further improved.

In the first embodiment, the container body 33Y of the toner container32Y is made to rotate in the counterclockwise viewed from the upstreamside in the toner conveying direction. Moreover, the spiral direction(turning direction) of the projection 33b in the container body 33Y isset to a rightward direction.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the held portion 34Y includes a cap mainportion 34a, a cap cover 34b also referred to as a front portion, aholder 34c, the plug member 34d as the open/close member, a packing 34e,and an ID chip 35. Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, an engaging portion34g (groove portion) with which a positioning member 31c of thetoner-container holder 31 is engaged is provided on both sides of theheld portion 34Y. The concave portion 34m into which a fitting member31d of the toner-container holder 31 is fitted is provided on the endface of the held portion 34Y. The convex portion 34n fitting intoanother fitting member (not shown) of the toner-container holder 31 isprovided on the circumferential surface of the held portion 34Y.Further, the notched portion 34h from which a part of the gear 33c isexposed is provided on the upper side of the held portion 34Y.

The held portion 34Y communicates with the container body 33Y throughthe opening A, and discharges the toner discharged from the opening A,from the toner outlet B (movement along the arrow direction indicated bythe dotted line of FIG. 6).

In the first embodiment, the cavity (space) formed inside the heldportion 34Y is almost cylindrically formed. The toner discharge path(vertical path) from the almost cylindrical cavity formed inside theheld portion 34Y up to the toner outlet B is formed in a mortar shape.With this shape, the toner delivered through the rotation of thecontainer body 33Y is temporarily stacked in the mortar, and the suctionforce of the screw pump 60 on the side of the apparatus body 100 istransmitted to the toner efficiently stacked. Therefore, tonerconveyance capability of the toner which is discharged from the toneroutlet B and moves along the inside of the tube 71 is improved.

The held portion 34Y does not follow the rotation of the container body33Y, but is held in a non-rotating manner by a holding portion 73 (seeFIG. 4 and FIG. 10) of the toner-container holder 31 while the engagingportion 34g is engaged with the positioning member 31c.

The cap cover 34b of the held portion 34Y is bonded to thecircumferential surface of the cap main portion 34a. A claw 34b1 isprovided at the front of the cap cover 34b. The claw 34b1 is engagedwith an engaging member formed in the head of the container body 33Y,and the container body 33Y is thereby held relatively rotatably withrespect to the held portion 34Y. To smoothly rotate the container body33Y, the claw 34b1 of the held portion 34Y and the engaging member ofthe container body 33Y are engaged with each other by maintainingappropriate clearance therebetween.

A seal member 37 is adhered to the surface of the held portion 34Y thatfaces a front end 33a around the opening A of the container body 33Y.The seal member 37 is used for sealing the gap which is around theopening A and is between the surfaces of the container body 33Y and theheld portion 34Y that mutually face each other, and is made of anelastic material such as polyurethane foam.

The holder 34c is provided in the lower side of the held portion 34Y.Provided in the holder 34c is the plug member 34d (shutter) as theopen/close member for opening/closing the toner outlet B insynchronization with the attachment/detachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y. More specifically, the plug member 34d is movable in theholder 34c in the horizontal direction of FIG. 6 so as to be surroundedby sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2. A space (concave portion) is providedin the bottom face of the holder 34c so that the claw member 76 of theapparatus body 100 is engaged with the plug member 34d and the plugmember 34d relatively moves in the space. The packing 34e such as G sealis provided on the both sides of the plug member 34d to prevent tonerleakage from near the plug member 34d. Furthermore, packing such as anO-ring is provided in the engaging portion between the holder 34c andthe cap main portion 34a, to prevent toner leakage from both of thegaps.

The toner container 32Y is set in the toner-container holder 31, andthen the claw member 76 (see FIG. 5 and FIG. 14) is engaged with theright side of the plug member 34d, the claw member 76 being the biasmember for biasing the plug member 34d in the direction in which thetoner outlet B is closed. The claw member 76 is explained in detaillater.

The ID chip 35 of the held portion 34Y is configured to face acommunication circuit 74 (terminal) of the toner-container holder 31with a predetermined distance therebetween, in synchronization with theattachment operation of the toner container 32Y to the toner-containerholder 31. More specifically, the ID chip 35 is provided on a protrusionportion 34a1 of the held portion 34Y that protrudes in the direction(i.e., in the direction shown by the arrow b in FIG. 5) in which theheld portion 34Y is attached to the toner-container holder 31, and whichis provided on the plane orthogonal to the attachment direction. The IDchip 35 performs non-contact communication (radio communication) withthe communication circuit 74 of the apparatus body while the heldportion 34Y is held in the toner-container holder 31.

The ID chip 35 previously stores various types of information related tothe toner container 32Y. On the other hand, the communication circuit 74of the toner-container holder 31 exchanges the information by radio withthe ID chip 35 while the toner container 32Y is set in thetoner-container holder 31. More specifically, the information stored inthe ID chip 35 is transmitted to a controller 75 (see FIG. 5) of theapparatus body 100 through the communication circuit 74, or theinformation for the apparatus body 100 acquired by the controller 75 istransmitted to the ID chip 35 and stored therein.

The ID chip 35 stores information regarding toner such as toner colors,serial numbers of toner (production lot), and dates of toner production,and information regarding recycling of the toner container 32Y such asnumber of times of recycling, dates of recycling, and recyclingmanufacturers. When the toner container 32Y is set in thetoner-container holder 31, the information stored in the ID chip 35 istransmitted to the controller 75 of the apparatus body 100 through theelectric circuit 74. The apparatus body 100 is optimally controlledbased on these pieces of information. For example, if the toner color isdifferent from the toner color that should be set in the toner-containerholder, the operation of the toner supply device 59 can be stopped, orimaging conditions can be changed according to the serial number or therecycling manufacturer.

Provided in the holder 34c of the held portion 34Y are the slidingportions 34c1 and 34c2 for sliding along the toner-container holder 31following the operation of its attachment/detachment to/from thetoner-container holder 31.

More specifically, a first sliding portion 34c1 is a flat portion formedso as to be parallel with a sliding face 31a (which is a plane with aflat face formed upward; see FIG. 10, and FIG. 45 and FIG. 46 explainedlater) of the toner-container holder 31, the flat portion being providedin the bottom of the held portion 34Y with which theattachment/detachment is operated. Furthermore, a second sliding portion34c2 is a flat portion formed so as to be parallel with a sliding face31b (which is a plane with a flat face formed sideward; see FIG. 10, andFIG. 45 and FIG. 46 explained later) of the toner-container holder 31,the flat portion being provided in the side portion of the held portion34Y with which the attachment/detachment is operated.

Referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the concave portion 34m fitted with thefitting member 31d of the toner-container holder 31 is provided in aportion which is an end face of the held portion 34Y and is near theprotrusion portion 34a1. The concave portion 34m is formed so as to befitted with the corresponding fitting member 31d when the attachmentoperation to the toner-container holder 31 is correct (when thetoner-container holder 31 is attached to the normal position).

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, positions of the concave portions34m are differently arranged from one another according to each color oftoner contained in the toner containers (container bodies). The concaveportion 34m (C) of the toner container corresponding to cyan and acorresponding fitting member (not shown) of the toner-container holderare arranged in the uppermost side, and the concave portion 34m (M) ofthe toner container corresponding to magenta and a corresponding fittingmember (not shown) of the toner-container holder are arranged in theupper side of the middle stage. The concave portion 34m (Y) of the tonercontainer corresponding to yellow and the corresponding fitting member31d of the toner-container holder are arranged in the lower side of themiddle stage, and the concave portion 34m (K) of the toner containercorresponding to black and a corresponding fitting member (not shown) ofthe toner-container holder are arranged in the lowermost side.

This configuration allows prevention of such a failure that a tonercontainer for an inappropriate color (e.g., toner container for yellow)is set in a toner-container holder for a predetermined color (e.g., cyantoner-container holder) and this causes a desired color image not to beformed.

Likewise, referring to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7, the convex portion 34n withwhich another fitting member (not shown) is fitted is provided on thecircumferential surface of the held portion 34Y. Like to the concaveportion 34m, the convex portion 34n fitted into a corresponding fittingmember when the toner container is properly attached to thetoner-container holder 31. It is configured that positions of the convexportions 34n are arranged differently from one other according to eachcolor of toner contained in the toner container (container body).

Such a configuration as above allows prevention of miss-setting of thetoner container in the toner-container holder, similarly to the concaveportion 34m.

In the first embodiment, as toner contained in the toner containers 32Y,32M, 32C, and 32K, toner formed so that the following relations hold isused, where Dv (mm) is volume average particle size and Dn (mm) isnumber average particle size:3≤Dv≤8  (1)1.00≤Dv/Dn≤1.40  (2)Therefore, toner particles are selected according to an image pattern inthe developing process and excellent image quality is maintained, andsatisfactory developing capability is maintained even if the toner isstirred for a long time in the developing device. Moreover, the tonercan be efficiently and reliably conveyed without blocking the tonersupply path such as the tube 71.

The volume average particle size and the number average particle size oftoner can be measured by using a typical device such as a CoulterCounter type particle size distribution measuring device: CoulterCounter-TA-II (manufactured by Coulter Electronics Limited) and CoulterMultisizer II (manufactured by Coulter Electronics Limited).

Furthermore, in the first embodiment, as toner contained in the tonercontainers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K, substantially spherical toner isused, the toner being formed so that a shape factor SF-1 is in a rangeof 100 to 180 and a shape factor SF-2 is in a range of 100 to 180. Thisallows suppression of reduction in cleaning performance while hightransfer efficiency is maintained. Moreover, the toner can beefficiently and reliably conveyed without blocking the toner supply pathsuch as the tube 71.

Herein, the shape factor SF-1 indicates the sphericity of a tonerparticle, and it is determined by the following equation.SF-1=(M²/S)×(100π/4)

In the equation, M is the maximum particle size (the largest particlesize in uneven particle sizes) in a project plane of the toner particle,and S is a project area of the toner particle. Therefore, the tonerparticle whose shape factor SF-1 is 100 is perfectly spherical, and thedegree of sphericity lowers as it than becomes greater 100.

The shape factor SF-2 indicates the irregularities of a toner particle,and it is determined by the following equation.SF-2=(N²/S)×(100/4π)

In the equation, N is a circumferential length in the project plane ofthe toner particle, and S is the project area of the toner particle.Therefore, the toner particle whose shape factor SF-2 is 100 has noirregularities, and the irregularities become larger as it becomesgreater than 100.

The shape factor SF-1 and the shape factor SF-2 are obtained byphotographing a toner particle by a scanning electron microscope “S-800”(manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd.) and analyzing the photograph of thetoner particle obtained, by an image analyzer “LUSEX3” (manufactured byNireco Corp.).

The configuration of the toner-container holder 31 is explained belowwith reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11.

FIG. 10 is a schematic of the toner-container holder, and FIG. 11 is aschematic of a nozzle.

Referring to FIG. 10, the toner-container holder 31 includes the slidingfaces 31a and 31b along which sliding portions in each held portion ofthe four toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K slide; the holdingportion 73 for fixing the position of the holder 34c of the heldportion; the nozzle 70; a drive unit (where the drive gear 31g isprovided) for transmitting a rotational driving force to the containerbody 33Y; the communication circuit 74; arm pairs 90 (biasing unit) forbiasing the held portion 34Y toward the holding portion 73 insynchronization with the attachment of the toner container 32Y; and theclaw member (biasing member) 76 for biasing the plug member 34d in thedirection in which the toner outlet B of the toner container 32Y isclosed.

The holding portion 73 holds the held portions of the toner containers32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K each in the non-rotating manner. The holdingportion 73 includes sliding faces contacting the holder 34c, and acontact face contacting a part of the cap cover 34b. Provided in thesliding faces (side faces) of the holding portion 73 are the positioningmembers 31c for positioning in synchronization with the attachmentoperation of the held portion 34Y (see FIG. 5). The positioning member31c is a convex portion extended along the attachment/detachmentdirection of the toner container 32Y.

Provided in the sliding face (bottom) of the holding portion 73 is theclaw member 76 as a biasing member for biasing the plug member 34d inthe direction in which the toner outlet B is closed in synchronizationwith the detachment of the held portion 34Y (see FIG. 5, and FIG. 12 toFIG. 14). The claw member 76 is pivotally held by the toner-containerholder 31 around the rotating spindle 76a in the direction of adouble-pointed arrow (R direction) of FIG. 5. More specifically, theclaw member 76 is biased by a plate spring 77 (second biasing member)fixed to the lower side of the claw member 76 in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5, inthe direction in which the claw member 76 protrudes from a pushedposition, which does not obstruct attachment/detachment of the heldportion 34Y, to a position of engaging the plug member 34d (biasing inthe direction of an arrow R2 of FIG. 13).

Furthermore, the communication circuit 74 and the fitting member 31d areprovided on the surface of the holding portion 73 in its rear side.

The nozzle 70 as shown in FIG. 11 is arranged in the holding portion 73for each toner color. Provided in the nozzle 70 is a toner supply port70a communicating with the toner outlet B which is formed in the heldportion 34Y of the toner container 32Y.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is explained below with reference to FIG.12 to FIG. 16.

FIG. 12 is a schematic of how the toner container 32Y for yellow isattached to the toner-container holder 31 when viewed from thelongitudinal direction (movement in the direction of an arrow Q). FIG.13 is a schematic of how the attachment of the toner container 32Y isprogressed (when the toner outlet B starts to be opened) when viewedfrom the longitudinal direction. FIG. 14 is a schematic of the tonercontainer 32Y attached to the toner-container holder 31 (when theopening of the toner outlet B is completed) when viewed from thelongitudinal direction. FIG. 15 is a schematic of how the tonercontainer 32Y is attached to the toner-container holder 31 when viewedfrom the holder 34c side. FIG. 16 is a schematic of the toner container32Y attached to the toner-container holder 31 when viewed from theholder 34c side.

When the toner container 32Y is attached to the toner-container holder31 of the apparatus body 100, at first, the main-body cover (not shown)provided on the front face (the near side on the paper of FIG. 1) of themain body of the image forming apparatus 100 is opened to expose thetoner-container holder 31 to the front side.

Then, referring to FIG. 12, the toner container 32Y is pushed into thetoner-container holder 31 (movement in the direction of the arrow Q).More specifically, the toner container 32Y is attached to thetoner-container holder 31 along the longitudinal direction of thecontainer body 33Y (or the toner container 32Y) so that the held portion34Y becomes the head of the container body 33Y.

At this time, the first sliding portion 34c1 slides along the slidingface 31a of the toner-container holder 31 at the head side of the tonercontainer 32Y, and the second sliding portion 34c2 slides along thesliding face 31b of the toner-container holder 31, and while sliding,the toner container 32Y is pushed into the toner-container holder 31with good balance by the user gripping the gripper 33d on the rear sideof the toner container 32Y.

Thereafter, when the holder 34c of the toner container 32Y reaches theholding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31, positioning of theheld portion 34Y is started. More specifically, the engaging portion 34gof the held portion 34Y and the positioning member 31c of thetoner-container holder 31 start to be engaged with each other. Duringthis time, the arm pairs 90 bias the held portion 34Y of the tonercontainer 32Y toward the holding portion 73 (biasing in the direction ofthe arrow Q).

Furthermore, during this time, the claw member 76 provided in theholding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31 is pushed downwardto the position that does not obstruct the attachment of the heldportion 34Y (which is rotation in the direction of an arrow R1 aroundthe rotating spindle 76a). More specifically, the claw member 76 ispushed down by the sliding portion 34c1 in the direction of resistingthe biasing force of the plate spring 77 as the second biasing member.

Thereafter, when the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isfurther progressed, the plug member 34d starts to open the toner outletB while the engaging portion 34g and the positioning member 31c areengaged with each other (the state as shown in FIG. 13). Morespecifically, the plug member 34d is pushed by the nozzle 70 associatedwith insertion of the front end of the nozzle 70 into the hole of theholder 34c.

At this time, the claw member 76 protrudes from the pushed position inFIG. 12 to the position of engaging with the plug member 34d rightbefore the front end of the nozzle 70 touches the plug member 34d (whichis rotation in the direction of an arrow R2 around the rotating spindle76a). More specifically, the claw member 76 is released from the pushingby the sliding portion 34c1 and is pushed up to its default position bythe biasing force of the plate spring as the second biasing member.

At this default position, the claw member 76 is protruded toward aspace, which is on the container body 33Y side of the plug member 34d,being apart from the nozzle 70, and which is between the engagingportion (of the plug member 34d) protruded from the surface of the plugmember 34d and the side of the container body 33Y, both of them beingprovided on both sides of the space in the horizontal direction.

Ideally, from the viewpoint of prevention of toner scatter, it ispreferable that the claw member 76 engage with the engaging portion ofthe plug member 34d when the claw member 76 is pushed up, but the clawmember 76 is preferably configured to be pushed up to the position apartfrom the engagement face by about 0.5 to 3 mm to maintain mechanicaltolerance. This configuration allows the claw member 76 to wait readilyfor its engagement with the engaging portion of the plug member 34d whenthe user pushes the toner container into the toner-container holder.

If the front end of the nozzle 70 touches the front end of the plugmember 34d to start movement of the plug member 34d before the clawmember 76 is pushed up to the default position, the claw member 76 isnot engaged with the engaging portion of the plug member 34d dependingon setting of the mechanical tolerance, and after this, when the userfeels something different from the feeling and pulls out again the tonercontainer, such a failure that toner may be leaked from the toner outletis predicted.

The state as shown in FIG. 13 is such that the plug member 34d is heldby the nozzle 70 and the claw member 76 and its position is fixed in thetoner-container holder 31 (holding portion 73). If the toner container32Y is further moved in the attachment direction (direction of the arrowQ) from the state of FIG. 13, the toner outlet B is opened while theposition of the plug member 34d is fixed in the holding portion 73 (theplug member 34d relatively moves).

Then, referring to FIG. 14, the position of the held portion 34Y isfixed at the position where the holder 34c butts against the holdingportion 73 (reference position for butting), and at the same time, theplug member 34d fully opens the toner outlet B and the gear 33c of thetoner container 32Y is engaged with the drive gear 31g of the drive unitof the toner-container holder 31. The ID chip 35 as an electronicsubstrate faces the communication circuit 74 in the position of enablingradio communication. Furthermore, the concave portion 34m and the convexportion 34n for securing non-compatibility of toner containers arefitted in the fitting members 31d and 31e of the apparatus body. Thetoner outlet B of the toner container 32Y communicates with the tonersupply port 70a of the nozzle 70, and the attachment operation of thetoner container 32Y is completed.

On the other hand, when the toner container 32Y is taken out (removed)from the toner-container holder 31 of the apparatus body 100, theoperation is performed in the reverse of the attachment.

At first, the plug member 34d is biased by the claw member 76 while theposition of the plug member 34d in the holding portion 73 is fixed bythe nozzle 70 and the claw member 76, in synchronization with separationof the toner container 32Y from the holding portion 73 (detachmentoperation), to close the toner outlet B (movement from the state of FIG.14 to the state of FIG. 13). At this time, the end face of the plugmember 34d (the right-hand side end face of FIG. 13) is fitted in thefitting portion formed in the held portion 34Y, and closing of the toneroutlet B is completed by the plug member 34d. Thereafter, when the tonercontainer 32Y further moves from the state of FIG. 13 in the separatingdirection (the direction opposite to the arrow Q), the claw member 76moves to the position where the separation of the held portion 34Y isnot obstructed (the state of FIG. 12). After the held portion 34Y iscompletely separated, the claw member 76 is released from the pushing bythe sliding portion 34c1, to return to the default position by thebiasing force of the plate spring being the second biasing member.

Here, the plate spring 77 is the second biasing member for biasing theclaw member 76 from the pushed position to the engagement position. Andsuch plate spring 77 is formed so that the force with which the clawmember 76 biases the plug member 34d becomes greater than slidingresistance (which is produced by the packing of the O-ring associatedwith the open/close operation) of the plug member 34d. This allowsprevention of a failure such that the claw member 76 is pushed by theplug member 34d to move to the pushed position upon the detachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y so that the toner outlet B is notclosed completely. In other words, the plug member 34d surely closes thetoner outlet B upon detachment operation of the toner container 32Y.

In the first embodiment, because the position of the plug member 34d isheld by the nozzle 70 and the claw member 76, to be firmly fixed in thetoner-container holder 31, the plug member 34d is not displaced evenwhen the apparatus body 100 is in operation. Thus, it is possible toprevent toner scattering from near the toner outlet B.

In the first embodiment, a stroke of the plug member 34d when the toneroutlet B is opened/closed is set so as to be longer than a stroke whichis movable by a manual operation (for example, the operation of pushingthe plug member with fingers). In other words, even if the user touchesthe plug member 34d of the toner container 32Y by mistake, the stroke ofthe plug member 34d is set sufficiently long so that the toner outlet Bis not opened. More specifically, the plug member 34d is formed so thatits length is sufficiently long (particularly, the length from the endface where the nozzle is engaged with the toner outlet), and the bore ofthe plug member 34d is formed so as to be made sufficiently smaller ascompared with the size of the user's finger. Thus, it is possible toprevent toner scattering from near the toner outlet B caused by user'serroneous operation even if the biasing member (claw member 76) forbiasing the plug member 34d in the direction of closing the toner outletB is not provided in the toner container 32Y, as explained in the firstembodiment. In the first embodiment, however, because the biasing member(claw member 76) for biasing the plug member 34d is provided in theapparatus body 100, the number of components in the toner container 32Ycan be reduced, thus reducing the component cost and the running cost.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 15, and FIG. 16, theplug member 34d is provided in the position surrounded by the slidingportions 34c1 and 34c2. That is, the plug member 34d is provided insidethe held portion 34Y. This configuration allows the sliding operation(attachment/detachment operation) of the sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2to be surely performed without obstructing the open/close operation ofthe toner outlet B by the plug member 34d. In other words, the slidingportions 34c1 and 34c2 serve as a protection wall for the plug member34d. Furthermore, a cylinder portion of the plug member 34d is coveredwith the holder 34c of the held portion 34Y, so as not to be exposedirrespective of open/close of the plug. Thus, it is possible to maintainairtightness regardless of opening/closing of the plug. Furthermore, theplug member 34d has two pieces of plates, as an engaging portion withthe claw member 76, symmetrically projected in the axial direction ofthe cylinder portion and in the vertical direction thereof. Although thetwo pieces of plates are exposed to be engaged with the claw member 76,they are located in the high position by the thickness of the holder34c. Therefore, even when the toner container 32Y is attached/detachedto/from the main body of the image forming apparatus 100, there is nopossibility that the plug is opened carelessly due to sliding of thetoner container with the sliding face 31a of the toner-container holder31, and hence, it is configured to protect against toner scatter.

As explained above, in the image forming apparatus according to thefirst embodiment, the attachment operation and detachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y are completed by one action (except theopen/close operation of the main-body door) such that the slidingportion 34c1 of the toner container 32Y slides along the sliding face31a.

The toner container 32Y according to the first embodiment includes theheld portion 34Y with the toner outlet B provided downward in thevertical direction. The toner outlet B is provided in the lower side inthe vertical direction than the opening A, and after the plug member 34dis surely positioned in synchronization with the attachment operation,the plug member 34d is pushed by the nozzle 70 to open the toner outletB sealed by the packing 34e. Therefore, there is less toner stain in thetoner outlet B, and such inconvenience that the user's hands becomestained with toner by touching the toner outlet B is prevented.

Because the attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Yto/from the toner-container holder 31 is performed by one actionassociated with the sliding of the sliding portion 34c1, theoperability/workability upon replacement of the toner container 32Y isimproved. Particularly, by providing the sliding portion 34c1 in thebottom of the held portion 34Y, the sliding portion 34c1 slides alongthe sliding face 31a while supporting the toner container 32Y.

Moreover, the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isperformed by starting to slide the sliding portion 34c1 while the userdirectly grips the gripper 33d, starting positioning of the held portion34Y together with biasing by the arm pairs 90, starting insertion of thenozzle 70, and finishing the positioning of the held portion 34Y, theinsertion of the nozzle 70, and connecting to the drive unit as soon asthe sliding is finished. Therefore, the user gains a click feeling whenthe held portion 34Y is positioned at the same time when the sliding ofthe held portion 34Y (attachment operation by one action) is progressed,and feels certain that no erroneous operation occurs in the attachmentoperation.

Furthermore, the toner container 32Y is not set in the toner-containerholder 31 (apparatus body 100) from the upper side thereof, but theattachment/detachment is performed from the front face of thetoner-container holder 31 (apparatus body 100), thus, enhancing theflexibility of layout for the upper side of the toner-container holder31. For example, even if a scanner (document reader) is disposed rightabove the toner supply device 59, the operability/workability uponattachment/detachment of the toner container 32Y does not deteriorate.Moreover, the flexibility of layout for the engagement position Dbetween the gear 33c of the toner container 32Y and the drive gear 31gof the apparatus body 100 is also enhanced.

The toner container 32Y is installed in the apparatus body 100 bysetting its longitudinal direction as the horizontal direction, andtherefore, the toner capacity of the toner container 32Y is increasedwithout any effect on the layout in the height direction of the wholeimage forming apparatus 100, which allows reduction in the replacementfrequency.

As explained above, in the image forming apparatus according to thefirst embodiment, the plug member 34d of the held portion 34Yopens/closes the toner outlet B in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation by one action upon attachment/detachmentof the toner container 32Y to/from the toner-container holder 31, whichallows reliable and smooth opening/closing of the toner outlet B.Therefore, the operability/workability upon replacement of the tonercontainer 32Y is improved, and the occurrence of toner stain is surelyreduced.

In the first embodiment, only the toner is contained in each containerbody of the toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K, but in the case ofthe image forming apparatus that supplies two-component developercontaining toner and carrier to each developing device, thetwo-component developer can also be contained in each container body ofthe toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K. Even in this case, the sameeffect as that of the first embodiment can be obtained.

In the first embodiment, the projection 33b is integrally formed in theinner circumferential surface of the container body 33Y, and thecontainer body 33Y is made to rotate. At the same time, a coil or ascrew is rotatably held inside the container body 33Y, and the containerbody 33Y is not rotated but the coil or the screw can be rotated by thegear 33c. In this case also, the same effect as that of the firstembodiment can be obtained if the plug member 34d of the held portion34Y opens/closes the toner outlet B in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y by oneaction.

In the first embodiment, the suction-type screw pump 60 for sending airto the inside of the tube 71 is provided in the toner supply device 59.At the same time, a discharge-type screw pump for sending air to theinside of the tube 71 can also be provided in the toner supply device59. Furthermore, a diaphragm-type air pump can also be used as a pumpconnected to the tube 71. Even in these cases, the same effect as thatof the first embodiment can be obtained if the plug member 34d of theheld portion 34Y opens/closes the toner outlet B in synchronization withthe attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y by oneaction.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the present invention is explained in detailbelow with reference to FIG. 17 to FIG. 19.

FIG. 17 is a cross-section of the head side of a toner containeraccording to the second embodiment, which corresponds to that of FIG. 6according to the first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 17, the toner container 32Y according to the secondembodiment is different from that of the first embodiment in a pointthat a compression spring 34f is provided as a member for applyingbiasing force to the held portion 34Y. More specifically, thecompression spring 34f for biasing the plug member 34d in the directionof closing the toner outlet B is provided on the right-hand side of theplug member 34d.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is explained below with reference to FIG.18 and FIG. 19.

FIG. 18A is a schematic of how the toner container 32Y for yellow isattached to the toner-container holder 31 (movement in the arrowdirection) when viewed from the longitudinal direction, and FIG. 18B isa cross-section of a portion around the holder 34c of the held portion34Y in that state when viewed from the upper side. FIG. 19A is aschematic of the toner container 32Y attached to the toner-containerholder 31 (attachment is completed) when viewed from the longitudinaldirection, and FIG. 19B is a cross-section of a portion around theholder 34c in that state when viewed from the upper side.

The toner-container holder 31 includes four toner-container holderscorresponding to the four toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K. Eachof the four toner-container holders includes the sliding faces 31a and31b along which the sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2 of the held portion34Y slide; the holding portion 73 for fixing the position of the holder34c of the held portion 34Y; the nozzle (toner conveying pipe) 70; and adrive unit (not shown) for transmitting a rotational driving force tothe container body 33Y. The holding portion 73 includes sliding faces31a and 31b contacting the holder 34c, and a contact face (not shown)contacting a part of the cap cover 34b.

When the toner container 32Y is attached to the toner-container holder31 of the apparatus body 100, at first, the main-body cover (not shown)provided on the front face (the near side on the paper of FIG. 1) of themain body of the image forming apparatus 100 is opened to expose thetoner-container holder 31 to the front side.

Then, referring to FIG. 18A, the toner container 32Y is pushed into thetoner-container holder 31 (movement in the arrow direction). Morespecifically, the toner container 32Y is attached to the toner-containerholder 31 along the longitudinal direction of the container body 33Y (orthe toner container 32Y) so that the held portion 34Y becomes the headof the container body 33Y.

At this time, the first sliding portion 34c1 slides along the slidingface 31a of the toner-container holder 31 at the head side of the tonercontainer 32Y, and the second sliding portion 34c2 slides along thesliding face 31b of the toner-container holder 31, and while sliding,the toner container 32Y is pushed into the toner-container holder 31with good balance by the user gripping the gripper 33d on the rear sideof the toner container 32Y.

Then, when the holder 34c of the toner container 32Y reaches the holdingportion 73 of the toner-container holder 31, the positioning of the heldportion 34Y is started.

Thereafter, the plug member 34d is pushed by the nozzle 70 in responseto insertion of the front end of the nozzle 70 into the hole of theholder 34c. The position of the held portion 34Y is fixed in theposition where the holder 34c butts against the holding portion 73, andat the same time, the plug member 34d fully opens the toner outlet B. Asshown in FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B, this opening allows the toner outlet Bof the toner container 32Y to communicate with the toner supply port 70aof the nozzle 70, and the attachment operation of the toner container32Y is completed.

Movement of the nozzle 70 to the inside or to the outside of the holder34c and movement of the plug member 34d to the inside or to the outsideof the holder 34c are performed when both of the members slidablycontact the lip of the packing 34e of the holder 34c (which is a portionforming the bore of the O-ring in FIG. 17, and which corresponds to thefront end of a pentagon such as a home base used for a base ball likethe cross-section of the O-ring shown in FIG. 17). Therefore, such afailure that toner is leaked from the holder 34c due to insertion orremoval of the nozzle 70 is prevented.

In the second embodiment, the attachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y is completed by one action (except the open/closeoperation of the main-body door) such that the sliding portion 34c1 ofthe toner container 32Y slides along the sliding face 31a. In otherwords, the positioning operation of the held portion 34Y (tonercontainer 32Y) and the insertion operation of the nozzle 70 aresequentially performed in synchronization with the sliding operationsuch that the sliding portion 34c1 of the toner container 32Y is causedto slide along the sliding face 31a.

When the toner container 32Y is to be taken out (removed) from thetoner-container holder 31 of the apparatus body 100, the operation isperformed in the reverse of the attachment. In this case, the nozzle 70also separates from the holder 34c in synchronization with the operationsuch that the toner container 32Y separates from the holding portion 73,and the plug member 34d is moved to the position of closing the toneroutlet B by the biasing force of the compression spring 34f.

The image forming apparatus to/from which the toner container 32Y isattached/detached may use the image forming apparatus according to thefirst embodiment that includes the claw member 76 as shown in FIG. 3,which is different from an image forming apparatus according to aneleventh embodiment as explained later. In this case, the action of theclaw member 76 as explained with reference to FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 can besuperimposed on the action of the compression spring 34f. Therefore, toenhance sealing capability of the toner outlet B, the airtightnessbetween the plug member 34d and the packing 34e can be furtherincreased. In that case, a sliding load during movement of the plugmember 34d also increases, but the compression spring 34f together withthe claw member 76 can increase the movement force of the plug member34d, so that the toner outlet can be smoothly opened/closed.

In this manner, the detachment operation of the toner container 32Y iscompleted by one action (except the open/close operation of themain-body door) such that the sliding portion 34c1 of the tonercontainer 32Y slides along the sliding face 31a.

The toner container 32Y according to the second embodiment includes theheld portion 34Y with the toner outlet B provided in the lower side inthe direction of gravity, and the plug member 34d is pushed by thenozzle 70 in synchronization with the attachment operation, to open thetoner outlet B sealed with the packing 34e. Therefore, there is lesstoner stain in the toner outlet B, and such trouble that the user'shands become stained with toner by touching the toner outlet B isprevented.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is performed by one action associated withsliding of the sliding portion 34c1, and therefore, theoperability/workability upon replacement of the toner container 32Y isimproved. Particularly, by providing the sliding portion 34c1 in thebottom of the held portion 34Y, the sliding portion 34c1 slides alongthe sliding face 31a while supporting the toner container 32Y.

Moreover, the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isperformed by starting to slide the sliding portion 34c1 while the userdirectly grips the gripper 33d, starting positioning of the held portion34Y while sliding, starting insertion of the nozzle 70, and finishingthe positioning of the held portion 34Y and the insertion of the nozzle70 as soon as the sliding is finished. Therefore, the user gains a clickfeeling when the held portion 34Y is positioned at the same time whenthe sliding of the held portion 34Y (attachment operation by one action)is progressed, and feels certain that no erroneous operation occurs inthe attachment operation.

Furthermore, the toner container 32Y is not set in the toner-containerholder 31 (apparatus body 100) from the upper side thereof, but theattachment/detachment is performed from the front face of thetoner-container holder 31 (apparatus body 100), thus, enhancing theflexibility of layout for the upper side of the toner-container holder31. For example, even if a scanner (document reader) is disposed rightabove the toner-container holder, the operability/workability uponattachment/detachment of the toner container 32Y does not deteriorate.

The toner container 32Y is installed in the apparatus body 100 bysetting its longitudinal direction as the horizontal direction, andtherefore, the toner capacity of the toner container 32Y is increasedwithout any effect on the layout in the height direction of the wholeimage forming apparatus 100, which allows reduction in the replacementfrequency.

As explained above, in the second embodiment, the sliding portions 34c1and 34c2 are provided in the held portion 34Y, the sliding portionssliding along the toner-container holder 31 in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holder 31.Therefore, the operability/workability upon replacement of the tonercontainer 32Y is improved, and the occurrence of toner stain is surelyreduced.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 20.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view of a toner container according to thethird embodiment, which corresponds to FIG. 5 according to the firstembodiment. In the third embodiment, the shape of the sliding portion34c1 formed in the held portion 34Y is different from that of theembodiments.

As shown in FIG. 20, in the toner container 32Y according to the thirdembodiment, the first sliding portion 34c1 of the held portion 34Y istwo convex portions (rib) that protrude toward the sliding face 31a ofthe toner-container holder 31, different from the sliding portion whichis formed with the flat portion in the embodiments. More specifically,two convex portions 34c1 as the sliding portion 34c1 are formed so as tohave height contactable with the sliding face 31a (they are formed sothat the height in the vertical direction is equivalent to the slidingface 31a), and are extended along the longitudinal direction(attachment/detachment direction). Therefore, when theattachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y is performed,the two convex portions 34c1 (sliding portion 34c1) slide along thesliding face 31a while the posture of the held portion 34Y (or the tonercontainer 32Y) is maintained.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y accordingto the third embodiment is also completed by one action (except theopen/close operation of the main-body door) such that the slidingportion 34c1 of the toner container 32Y slides along the sliding face31a, similarly to the embodiments.

As explained above, in the third embodiment, similarly to theembodiments, the configuration of the toner container installed in thetoner-container holder is optimized by setting its longitudinaldirection as the horizontal direction. Therefore, theoperability/workability upon the replacement is improved, and theoccurrence of toner stain can be surely reduced.

The shape of the sliding portion 34c1 in the toner container 32Y is notlimited to that of the third embodiment or those in the embodiments.Therefore, the same effect as that of the embodiments can be obtained ifany sliding portion slides along the sliding face 31a while the postureof the held portion 34Y is maintained.

Fourth Embodiment

A fourth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detailbelow with reference to FIG. 21 to FIG. 25.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view of the arm pairs 90 provided in thetoner-container holder 31 according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 22 isan exploded perspective view of the arm pair 90. In the followingexplanation, the drawings used for explanation in the embodiments areused if necessary.

Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 10, the toner-container holder 31 includesthe sliding faces 31a along which each sliding portion in held portionsof the four toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K slides; the holdingportion 73 for fixing each position of the holders 34c of the heldportions; the nozzles 70; the drive unit for transmitting a rotationaldriving force to each container body 33Y; the communication circuits 74;the arm pairs 90 serving as the biasing unit.

The holding portion 73 holds the held portions of the toner containers32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K each in the non-rotating manner. The holdingportion 73 includes sliding faces contacting the holder 34c and acontact face contacting a part of the cap cover 34b. Provided in thesliding faces (side faces) of the holding portion 73 are the positioningmembers 31c for positioning in synchronization with the attachment ofthe held portion 34Y (see FIG. 5). The positioning member 31c is aconvex portion extended along the attachment/detachment direction of thetoner container 32Y.

The nozzle 70 shown in FIG. 11 is provided for each toner color in theholding portion 73. The nozzle 70 has the toner supply port 70acommunicating with the toner outlet B formed in the held portion 34Y ofthe toner container 32Y.

Referring to FIG. 10 and FIG. 21, the arm pairs 90 are provided for eachtoner color in the holding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31.As shown in FIG. 21, the arm pairs 90 are disposed on both sidessandwiching the held portion of the toner container.

Referring to FIG. 22, the arm pair 90 includes a first arm 91 (secondbiasing element), a second arm 92 (biasing element), a spindle 93, and atorsion spring 94. The arm pair 90 is integrally provided via thespindle 93, and affects the force on both directions in the direction ofrotation around the spindle 93 by the torsion spring 94. Morespecifically, the first arm 91 and the second arm 92 affect the force onboth directions in the direction of rotation around the spindle 93. Theforce increases more as an angle formed between the first arm 91 and thesecond arm 92 increases.

The arm pairs 90 configured in the above manner serve as a biasing unitfor biasing the held portion 34Y toward the holding portion 73 (biasingit toward the direction of the arrow Q) while the toner container 32Y isset in the toner-container holder 31. More specifically, the arm pairs90 bias a flat portion 34k being a biased portion of the held portion34Y with the toner container 32Y set in the toner-container holder 31.Furthermore, the arm pairs 90 are configured so that the slidingportions 34c2 of the held portion 34Y (the second sliding portionsdisposed in the two side portions of the held portion 34Y) come incontact with the arm pairs 90 in synchronization withattachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to slide. Inthe fourth embodiment, the flat portion 34k being the biased portion ofthe held portion 34Y biased by the arm pairs 90 is a flat (whichconnects between the ends of the two side portions and is orthogonal tothe attachment/detachment direction in the fourth embodiment)intersecting the side portions in the ends of the two side portions ofthe held portion 34Y where the sliding portions 34c2 are formed.

Based on the configuration above, the toner container 32Y is set in theholding portion 73 while the two sliding portions 34c2 held by the twoarm pairs 90 are sliding with sufficient balance, and the posture of theheld portion 34Y in the holding portion 73 is maintained by the armpairs 90 (the held portion is biased to the nozzle 70 side and itsposition is fixed). Therefore, the operability/workability uponreplacement of the toner container 32Y is improved, and the occurrenceof the toner stain associated with replacing work can be reliablyreduced.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is explained below with reference to FIG.23 to FIG. 25 and FIG. 12 to FIG. 14.

FIG. 12 is a schematic of how the yellow toner container 32Y is attachedto the toner-container holder 31 (movement in the direction of the arrowQ) when viewed from the longitudinal direction, and FIG. 23 is aschematic of a relation between the arm pairs 90 and the held portion34Y (the holder 34c) in that state when viewed from the upper side. FIG.13 is a schematic of how the attachment of the toner container 32Y isprogressed (the toner outlet B starts to be opened) when viewed from thelongitudinal direction, and FIG. 24 is a schematic of a relation betweenthe arm pairs 90 and the held portion 34Y (the holder 34c) in that statewhen viewed from the upper side. FIG. 14 is a schematic of the tonercontainer attached to the toner-container holder 31 (opening of thetoner outlet B is completed) when viewed from the longitudinaldirection, and FIG. 25 is a schematic of a relation between the armpairs 90 and the held portion 34Y (the holder 34c) in that state whenviewed from the upper side.

When the toner container 32Y is to be attached to the toner-containerholder 31 of the apparatus body 100, at first, the main-body cover (notshown) provided on the front face (the near side on the paper of FIG. 1)of the main body of the image forming apparatus 100 is opened to exposethe toner-container holder 31 to the front side.

Then, referring to FIG. 12, the toner container 32Y is pushed into thetoner-container holder 31 (movement in the direction of the arrow Q).More specifically, the toner container 32Y is attached to thetoner-container holder 31 along the longitudinal direction of thecontainer body 33Y (or the toner container 32Y) so that the held portion34Y becomes the head of the container body 33Y.

At this time, the sliding portion 34c1 slides along the sliding face 31aof the toner-container holder 31 at the head side of the toner container32Y, and the toner container 32Y is pushed into the toner-containerholder 31 with sufficient balance by the user gripping the gripper 33don the rear side of the toner container 32Y.

Thereafter, referring to FIG. 23, when the holder 34c (the held portion34Y) of the toner container 32Y reaches the position of the arm pairs 90in the toner-container holder 31, the first arms 91 come in contact withthe front edge of the holder 34c (the held portion 34Y) and the secondarms 92 come in contact with the side faces (sliding portions 34c2) ofthe holder 34c (the held portion 34Y), and the arm pairs 90 are therebywidened in directions of a black arrow (g direction) of FIG. 23. Then,by widening the arm pairs 90 in the directions of the black arrow (gdirection), the first arms 91 affect forces on the holder 34c in thedirection of an arrow S1 and the second arms 92 affect forces thereon indirections of an arrow S2, by spring forces of the torsion springs 94.In this case, the second arms 92 face each other on both side faces ofthe holder 34c, and the forces from both directions indicated by thearrow S2 are cancelled out. Therefore, the forces acting from the secondarms 92 on the sliding portions 34c2 become a slight amount of slidingresistance between resins, and hence, the forces in the directions ofthe arrow S1 by the first arms 91 are mainly acted on the held portion34Y. These forces are a force in the direction in which the tonercontainer 32Y is detached from the holding portion 73.

Thereafter, the toner container 32Y is further pushed thereinto againstthe force in the detachment direction, and when the holder 34c of thetoner container 32Y reaches the holding portion 73 of thetoner-container holder 31, in addition to sliding of the first slidingportion 34c1 along the sliding face 31a, the positioning of the heldportion 34Y is started while the second sliding portions 34c2 aresliding along the arm pairs 90. More specifically, the engaging portion34g of the held portion 34Y and the positioning member 31c of thetoner-container holder 31 start to be engaged with each other.

Then, the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y is furtherprogressed, and the plug member 34d starts to open the toner outlet Bwhile the engaging portion 34g and the positioning member 31c areengaged (state shown in FIG. 13). That is, the front end of the nozzle70 is inserted into the hole of the holder 34c, and at the same time,the plug member 34d is relatively pushed by the nozzle 70.

At this time, in addition to the sliding of the second sliding portions34c2 along the first arms 91, the second arms 92 bias the held portion34Y toward the holding portion 73 (biasing in the direction of the arrowQ).

More specifically, referring to FIG. 24, the first arms 91 are widenedby the front edge of the holder 34c (the held portion 34Y), to come incontact with the second sliding portions 34c2. At the same time, thesecond arms 92 start contacting the rear end of the holder 34c (flatportion 34k). At this time, the forces by the first arms 91 from bothdirections of the arrow S2 are cancelled out. Therefore, the forcesacting from the first arms 91 on the sliding portions 34c2 become abouta slight amount of sliding resistance between the resins, and as aresult, the forces by the second arms 92 from the directions of an arrowS3 mainly act on the held portion 34Y. These forces are a force in thedirection in which the toner container 32Y is biased toward the holdingportion 73 (direction of the arrow Q).

Referring to FIG. 14, the position of the held portion 34Y is fixed atthe position where the holder 34c butts against the holding portion 73(reference position for butting), and at the same time, the plug member34d fully opens the toner outlet B, and the gear 33c of the tonercontainer 32Y is engaged with the drive gear of the drive unit in thetoner-container holder 31. Furthermore, the ID chip 35 is fixed in aposition communicable with the communication circuit 74. The toneroutlet B of the toner container 32Y and the toner supply port 70athereby communicate with each other, and the attachment operation of thetoner container 32Y is completed.

At this time, referring to FIG. 25, the first arms 91 are in contactwith the second sliding portions 34c2, and the second arms 92 are incontact with the flat portion 34k (rear end of the holder 34c) as thebiased portion. With this situation, only the forces by the second arms92 in the directions of an arrow S4 act on the held portion 34Y. Theseforces are a force (positioning force) for holding the held portion 34Yof the toner container 32Y in the holding portion 73. In the fourthembodiment, the two arm pairs 90 are in contact with the two parts (bothends) of the flat portion 34k, to thereby bias the held portion 34Y withsufficient balance toward the attachment direction.

Even when the toner container 32Y is manually detached by the user, thefirst arms 91 and the second arms 92 are in such positions as shown inFIG. 23, before or after the engaging portion 34g of the held portion34Y is disengaged from the positioning member 31c of the toner-containerholder 31. At this time, the first arms 91 also affect the forces on theheld portion 34Y in the S1 directions in which the toner container 32Yis detached from the holding portion 73, and these forces support theuser to conduct the pull-out operation, which facilitates thedetachment.

Furthermore, by the time the force to support the detachment is producedby the first arms 91, the operation passes through the states as shownin FIG. 25 and FIG. 24. But, at this time, the forces, indicated by thearrows S3 and S4, biasing the toner container 32Y toward the holdingportion 73 are produced in the second arms 92, and these forces are usedto push the toner container 32Y back to the holding portion 73 to closethe toner outlet so as to suppress toner scatter when the user performsa slow and weak detachment operation, and because the pulling-outrequires force, these forces can prompt the user to do such a quickpull-out operation in which toner is less scattered.

In the fourth embodiment, referring to FIG. 6, the sliding portions 34c2being the biased portion are formed so that their height (position inthe vertical direction) becomes almost equivalent to the height of thetoner outlet B (or the plug member 34d). Consequently, when the slidingportions 34c2 slide along the arm pairs 90, even if the torque (rattle)around the central axis of the nozzle 70 in the longitudinal directionis affected on the held portion 34Y, it is prevented that the forcesacting from the first arms 91 and the second arms 92 on the slidingportions 34c2 become forces of promoting the torque. As a result, such afailure that the toner outlet B (or the plug member 34d) and the nozzle70 are displaced from each other is prevented.

In the fourth embodiment, the attachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y to the toner-container holder 31 is configured in such amanner that after the sliding portions 34c2 start to slide along the armpairs 90, the nozzle 70 starts to push the plug member 34d, and as soonas the sliding portions 34c2 finish sliding along the arm pairs 90, thearm pairs 90 bias (positioning) the flat portion 34k (biased portion).In other words, as shown in FIG. 6, the length of the sliding portions34c2 in their attachment/detachment direction is set so as to besufficiently long. This allows reliable operation such that after theheld portion 34Y starts to be smoothly attached to the toner-containerholder 31, the nozzle 70 pushes the plug member 34d, and the holdingportion 73 positions the held portion 34Y.

The fourth embodiment is configured so that a movement distance, in theattachment/detachment direction of the plug member 34d associated withthe attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31, is shorter than a distance from the toneroutlet B to the flat portion 34k (biased portion) in theattachment/detachment direction. Based on this configuration, the nozzle70 and the plug member 34d are surely engaged after the held portion 34Ystarts to be smoothly attached to the toner-container holder 31.

In the fourth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the engaging portion 34gof the held portion 34Y is provided in the upper side of the slidingportion 34c2 (second sliding portion) and the toner outlet B (or theplug member 34d) in their vertical direction. Therefore, even if toneris leaked from the toner outlet B, most of the toner leaked drops in thedirection of gravity, thus reducing a failure such that the toner isadhered to the engaging portion 34g to cause poor engagement with thepositioning member 31c.

As explained above, in the fourth embodiment, similarly to theembodiments, the configuration of the toner container to be installed inthe toner-container holder is optimized based on the longitudinaldirection set as the horizontal direction. Therefore, theoperability/workability upon the replacement is improved, and theoccurrence of toner stain can be surely reduced.

Furthermore, in the fourth embodiment, the toner container 32Y is set inthe holding portion 73 while the two sliding portions 34c2 held by thetwo arm pairs 90 are smoothly sliding, and the held portion 34Y is heldby the holding portion 73 due to the biasing force of the arm pairs 90.Therefore, the operability/workability upon the replacement of the tonercontainer 32Y is further improved, and the occurrence of toner stainassociated with the replacing work can be surely reduced.

Fifth Embodiment

A fifth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 26.

FIG. 26 is a schematic of the arm pairs 90 when the toner container 32Yaccording to the fifth embodiment is attached to the toner-containerholder 31, and corresponds to FIG. 25 according to the fourthembodiment. In the fifth embodiment, corner portions 340m are used asthe biased portions of the held portion 34Y in the toner container 32Y,and this point is different from the fourth embodiment in which the flatportion 34k is used as the biased portion of the held portion 34Y.

Referring to FIG. 26, in the fifth embodiment also, the arm pairs 90function as the biasing unit for biasing the held portion 34Y toward theholding portion 73 while the toner container 32Y is set in thetoner-container holder 31. More specifically, the arm pairs 90 bias thecorner portions 340m (curved portions) as the biased portions of theheld portion 34Y while the toner container 32Y is set in thetoner-container holder 31. Furthermore, the arm pairs 90 are configuredso that the second sliding portions 34c2 of the held portion 34Y come incontact with the arm pairs 90 to slide in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y. Here, thecorner portions 340m, which are the biased portions of the held portion34Y biased by the arm pairs 90, are corners (two corner portions) inrespective ends of the two side portions of the held portion 34Y wherethe sliding portions 34c2 are formed.

Based on the configuration above, the toner container 32Y is set in theholding portion 73 while the two sliding portions 34c2 held by the twoarm pairs 90 are smoothly sliding, and the posture of the held portion34Y in the holding portion 73 is maintained by the arm pairs 90. In thefifth embodiment, the two arm pairs 90 come in contact with the twocorner portions 340m to thereby bias the held portion 34Y in theattachment direction with good balance.

In the fifth embodiment, the corner portion 340m of the held portion 34Yis rounded (round chamfering). The round form of the corner portion 340mis formed so that it is smaller than the round form of a contact portion(contact portion 92a of the second arm 92) of the arm pair 90 in contactwith the corner portion 340m. Therefore, a shift is smoothly performedfrom the operation such that the sliding portions 34c2 slide along thearm pairs 90 to the operation such that the arm pairs 90 bias the heldportion 34Y (corner portions 340m).

As explained above, in the fifth embodiment, similarly to theembodiments, the configuration of the toner container to be installed inthe toner-container holder is optimized based on the longitudinaldirection set as the horizontal direction. Therefore, theoperability/workability upon the replacement is improved, and theoccurrence of toner stain can be surely reduced.

Furthermore, in the fifth embodiment, similarly to the fourthembodiment, the toner container 32Y is set in the holding portion 73while the two sliding portions 34c2 held by the two arm pairs 90 aresmoothly sliding, and the held portion 34Y is held by the holdingportion 73 due to the biasing force of the arm pairs 90. Thus, theoperability/workability upon the replacement of the toner container 32Yis further improved, and the occurrence of toner stain associated withthe replacing work can be surely reduced.

Sixth Embodiment

A sixth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 27 to FIG. 29.

The toner container 32Y according to the sixth embodiment also includesthe sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2 provided in the holder 34c of theheld portion 34Y, the sliding portions for sliding along thetoner-container holder 31 in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holder 31.

More specifically, the first sliding portion 34c1 is the flat portionformed so as to be parallel with the sliding face 31a (which is theupper face; see FIG. 27A) of the toner-container holder 31, the flatportion being provided in the bottom of the held portion 34Y with whichthe attachment/detachment is operated. Furthermore, the second slidingportion 34c2 is a flat portion formed so as to be parallel with thesliding face 31b (side face; see FIG. 27B) of the toner-container holder31, the flat portion being provided in the side portion of the heldportion 34Y with which the attachment/detachment is operated.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is explained below with reference to FIG.27 and FIG. 29.

FIG. 27A is a schematic of how the yellow toner container 32Y isattached to the toner-container holder 31 (movement in the arrowdirection) when viewed from the longitudinal direction, and FIG. 27B isa schematic of the portion around the holder 34c of the held portion 34Yin that state when viewed from the upper side. FIG. 28A is a schematicof how the attachment of the toner container 32Y is progressed(positioning of the held portion 34Y is started) when viewed from thelongitudinal direction, and FIG. 28B is a schematic of the portionaround the holder 34c of the held portion 34Y in that state when viewedfrom the upper side. FIG. 29A is a schematic of the toner container 32Yattached to the toner-container holder 31 (attachment is completed) whenviewed from the longitudinal direction, and FIG. 29B is a schematic ofthe portion around the holder 34c in that state when viewed from theupper side.

Provided in the toner-container holder 31 are four toner-containerholders corresponding to the four toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and32K, respectively. Each of the four toner container holders includes thesliding faces 31a and 31b along which the sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2of the held portion 34Y slide; the holding portion 73 for fixing theposition of the holder 34c of the held portion 34Y; the nozzle 70; andthe drive unit (not shown) for transmitting a rotational driving forceto the container body 33Y. The holding portion 73 includes the slidingfaces 31a and 31b contacting the holder 34c, and the contact face (notshown) contacting a part of the cap cover 34b. Provided in the slidingface 31b (side face) of the holding portion 73 is the positioning member31c for positioning in synchronization with the attachment operation ofthe held portion 34Y. The positioning member 31c is a convex portionextended along the attachment/detachment direction of the tonercontainer 32Y.

When the toner container 32Y is attached to the toner-container holder31 of the apparatus body 100, at first, the main-body cover (not shown)provided on the front face (the near side on the paper of FIG. 1) of themain body of the image forming apparatus 100 is opened to expose thetoner-container holder 31 to the front side.

Then, referring to FIG. 27A, the toner container 32Y is pushed into thetoner-container holder 31 (movement in the arrow direction). Morespecifically, the toner container 32Y is attached to the toner-containerholder 31 along the longitudinal direction of the container body 33Y (orthe toner container 32Y) so that the held portion 34Y becomes the headof the container body 33Y.

At this time, the first sliding portion 34c1 slides along the slidingface 31a of the toner-container holder 31 at the head side of the tonercontainer 32Y, and while sliding, the toner container 32Y is pushed intothe toner-container holder 31 with sufficient balance by the usergripping the gripper 33d on the rear side of the toner container 32Y.

Referring to FIG. 28A, when the holder 34c of the toner container 32Yreaches the holding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31,positioning of the held portion 34Y is started while the second slidingportions 34c2 are sliding along the sliding faces 31b in addition tosliding of the first sliding portion 34c1 along the sliding face 31a.More specifically, the engaging portion 34g of the held portion 34Y andthe positioning member 31c of the toner-container holder 31 start to beengaged with each other.

Thereafter, when the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isfurther progressed, the plug member 34d starts to open the toner outletB while the engaging portion 34g and the positioning member 31c areengaged with each other. More specifically, the plug member 34d ispushed by the nozzle 70 associated with insertion of the front end ofthe nozzle 70 into the hole of the holder 34c. Then, as shown in FIG.29A, the position of the held portion 34Y is fixed in the position wherethe holder 34c butts against the holding portion 73 (reference positionfor butting), and at the same time, the plug member 34d fully opens thetoner outlet B. The toner outlet B of the toner container 32Y and thetoner supply port 70a of the nozzle 70 thereby communicate with eachother, and the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y iscompleted.

As explained above, in the sixth embodiment, the attachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y to the toner-container holder 31 is configuredso that the plug member 34d starts to open the toner outlet B after thepositioning of the held portion 34Y is started. More specifically, thefront end of the positioning member 31c is formed so that it is locatedcloser to the side of the held portion 34Y than the front end of thenozzle 70 with respect to the held portion 34Y that moves in theattachment direction (i.e., in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG.27A). In other words, referring to FIG. 27B, the positioning member 31cis formed so as to be made longer than the nozzle 70 by a predeterminedlength H leftward from the reference position for butting in the holdingportion 73.

More specifically, in the sixth embodiment, the attachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y is completed by one action (except theopen/close operation of the main-body door) such that the slidingportion 34c1 of the toner container 32Y slides along the sliding face31a. In other words, the sliding portion 34c1 of the toner container 32Yis caused to slide along the sliding face 31a, and in synchronizationwith this operation, the positioning operation of the held portion 34Yis started, and then, the insertion operation of the nozzle 70 isstarted.

Therefore, the nozzle 70 is surely brought into contact with the plugmember 34d (hole) of the held portion 34Y which is accurately positionedby the positioning member 31c. This allows prevention of damage to thenozzle 70 (or the held portion 34Y), which may arise, because the nozzle70 misses the plug member 34d but hits against the held portion 34Y. Inother words, if the insertion operation of the nozzle 70 is startedbefore the held portion 34Y is accurately positioned, the nozzle 70 maymiss the plug member 34d but hit against the held portion 34Y, and thiscauses the stress exceeding the allowable stress to act on the nozzle 70(or the held portion 34Y), and the nozzle 70 (or the held portion 34Y)may thereby be deformed.

In the sixth embodiment, referring to FIG. 27B, the positioning member31c has a taper 31c1 (or chamfer) formed at the front end of the sidewhere the held portion 34Y is attached. Furthermore, the engagingportion 34g of the held portion 34Y also has a taper 34g1 (or chamfer)formed at the front end of the side where the positioning member 31c isengaged. This allows smooth engagement between the engaging portion 34gof the held portion 34Y and the positioning member 31c of thetoner-container holder 31 during the attachment/detachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y.

Furthermore, movement of the nozzle 70 to the inside or the outside ofthe holder 34c and movement of the plug member 34d to the inside or theoutside of the holder 34c are performed when both of the membersslidably contact the lip of the packing 34e of the holder 34c.Therefore, such a failure that toner is leaked from the holder 34c dueto insertion or removal of the nozzle 70 is prevented.

When the toner container 32Y is taken out (removed) from thetoner-container holder 31 of the apparatus body 100, the operation isperformed in the reverse of the attachment. At this time, the nozzle 70also separates from the holder 34c in synchronization with the operationof the toner container 32Y separating from the holding portion 73, andthe plug member 34d moves to the position of closing the toner outlet Bby the biasing force of the compression spring 34f.

In this manner, the detachment operation of the toner container 32Y iscompleted by one action (except the open/close operation of themain-body door) such that the sliding portion 34c1 of the tonercontainer 32Y slides along the sliding face 31a.

The toner container 32Y according to the sixth embodiment includes theheld portion 34Y with the toner outlet B provided in the lower side inthe direction of gravity, and after the plug member 34d is surelypositioned in synchronization with the attachment operation, the plugmember 34d is pushed by the nozzle 70 to open the toner outlet B sealedwith the packing 34e. Therefore, there is less toner stain in the toneroutlet B, and such trouble that the user's hands become stained withtoner by touching the toner outlet B is prevented.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is performed by one action associated withsliding of the sliding portion 34c1, and therefore, theoperability/workability upon replacement of the toner container 32Y isimproved. Particularly, by providing the sliding portion 34c1 in thebottom of the held portion 34Y, the sliding portion 34c1 slides alongthe sliding face 31a while supporting the toner container 32Y.

Moreover, the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isperformed by starting to slide the sliding portion 34c1 while the userdirectly grips the gripper 33d, starting positioning of the held portion34Y associated with the sliding, starting insertion of the nozzle 70,and finishing the positioning of the held portion 34Y and the insertionof the nozzle 70 as soon as the sliding is finished. Therefore, the usergains a click feeling when the held portion 34Y is positioned at thesame time when the sliding of the held portion 34Y (attachment operationby one action) is progressed, and feels certain that no erroneousoperation occurs in the attachment operation.

Furthermore, the toner container 32Y is not set in the toner-containerholder 31 (apparatus body 100) from the upper side thereof, but theattachment/detachment is performed from the front face of thetoner-container holder 31 (apparatus body 100), thus, enhancing theflexibility of layout for the upper side of the toner-container holder31. For example, even if a scanner (document reader) is disposed rightabove the toner-container holder, the operability/workability uponattachment/detachment of the toner container 32Y does not deteriorate.

The toner container 32Y is installed in the apparatus body 100 bysetting its longitudinal direction as the horizontal direction, andtherefore, the toner capacity of the toner container 32Y is increasedwithout any effect on the layout in the height direction of the wholeimage forming apparatus 100, which allows reduction in the replacementfrequency.

As explained above, in the sixth embodiment, when the toner container32Y is to be attached to the toner-container holder 31, the positioningof the held portion 34Y is started in synchronization with theattachment operation, and then the plug member 34d starts to open thetoner outlet B. Therefore, the toner outlet B is unfailingly andsmoothly opened. The operability/workability upon replacement of thetoner container 32Y can thereby be improved, and the occurrence of tonerstain can be surely reduced.

Seventh Embodiment

A seventh embodiment of the present invention is explained in detailbelow with reference to FIG. 30A and FIG. 30B.

FIG. 30A and FIG. 30B are schematics of how the toner container 32Yaccording to the seventh embodiment is attached to the toner-containerholder 31, and correspond to FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B according to thesixth embodiment. The seventh embodiment is different from the sixthembodiment mainly in the shape of the held portion 34Y of the tonercontainer 32Y.

The toner container 32Y according to the seventh embodiment alsoincludes the container body 33Y and the held portion 34Y (bottle cap),similarly to the sixth embodiment. The plug member 34d being theopen/close member is provided in the held portion 34Y of the tonercontainer 32Y, and the engaging portion 34g engaged with the positioningmember 31c of the toner-container holder 31 is provided therein.

The held portion 34Y according to the seventh embodiment is differentfrom the sixth embodiment in the following manner. The front end of theengaging portion 34g engaging with the positioning member is formed suchthat when the held portion 34Y moves in the attachment direction (i.e.,in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 30A) with respect to thetoner-container holder 31, the front end is located closer to thetoner-container holder 31 side (right-hand side on the paper) than thefront end of the plug member 34d pushed by the nozzle 70. In otherwords, the engaging portion 34g is formed so as to be longer by apredetermined length H in the holding portion 73 side than the plugmember 34d. In the toner-container holder 31, the positioning member 31cand the nozzle 70 are formed so as to be almost equivalent to each otherin length from the reference position for butting in the holding portion73.

Based on the configuration above, in the seventh embodiment, similarlyto the sixth embodiment, during the attachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y to the toner-container holder 31, the positioning of theheld portion 34Y is started, and then the plug member 34d starts to openthe toner outlet B. Therefore, it is possible to prevent, beforeoccurring, the damage given to the nozzle 70 (or the held portion 34Y)caused by the case where the nozzle 70 misses the plug member 34d buthits against the held portion 34Y.

As explained above, in the seventh embodiment, similarly to the sixthembodiment, when the toner container 32Y is to be attached to thetoner-container holder 31, after the positioning of the held portion 34Yis started in synchronization with the attachment operation, the plugmember 34d starts to open the toner outlet B. Therefore, the toneroutlet B is unfailingly and smoothly opened. The operability/workabilityupon replacement of the toner container 32Y can thereby be improved, andthe occurrence of toner stain can be surely reduced.

Eighth Embodiment

An eighth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detailbelow with reference to FIG. 31.

FIG. 31 is a perspective view of the toner container according to theeighth embodiment, and corresponds to FIG. 5 of the first embodiment.The eighth embodiment is different from the first embodiment in theshape of the positioning member 31c provided in the toner-containerholder.

Referring to FIG. 31, the positioning member 31c provided in thetoner-container holder according to the eighth embodiment is protrudedtogether with the nozzle 70 from the rear side of the holding portion ofthe toner-container holder to the side of the held portion 34Y, unlikethe first embodiment in which the positioning member 31c is integrallyformed on the wall face (side face) of the toner-container holder.Similarly to the sixth embodiment, the positioning member 31c accordingto the eighth embodiment is also formed so as to be longer than thenozzle 70 by a predetermined length from the reference position forbutting in the holding portion to the side of the held portion 34Y.

Based on the configuration above, in the eighth embodiment also,similarly to the sixth embodiment, during the attachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y to the toner-container holder 31, thepositioning of the held portion 34Y is started, and then the plug member34d starts to open the toner outlet B. Therefore, it is possible toprevent, before occurring, the damage given to the nozzle 70 (or theheld portion 34Y) caused by the case where the nozzle 70 misses the plugmember 34d but hits against the held portion 34Y.

As explained above, in the eighth embodiment, similarly to the sixthembodiment, when the toner container 32Y is to be attached to thetoner-container holder 31, after the positioning of the held portion 34Yis started in synchronization with the attachment operation, the plugmember 34d starts to open the toner outlet B. Therefore, the toneroutlet B is unfailingly and smoothly opened. The operability/workabilityupon replacement of the toner container 32Y can thereby be improved, andthe occurrence of toner stain can be surely reduced.

Ninth Embodiment

A ninth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 32.

FIG. 32 is a cross-section of a toner container according to the ninthembodiment. The toner container 32Y according to the ninth embodimenthas some points that the container body 33Y together with the heldportion 34Y is held by the toner-container holder 31 in a non-rotatingmanner, and that a coil 81Y as the conveyor member is provided in thecontainer body 33Y, and these points are different from the embodimentsin which the container body 33Y rotates to convey the toner containedtherein to the opening A.

As shown in FIG. 32, the toner container 32Y mainly includes thecontainer body 33Y and the held portion 34Y.

The opening A is provided in the head of the container body 33Y, and thegear 33c is rotatably provided around the outer periphery of the openingA. The gear 33c is engaged with the drive gear of the apparatus body 100to rotate the coil 81Y.

A rotating axis 80Y is integrally formed with the gear 33c, and thespiral-shaped coil 81Y is connected to the rotating axis 80Y. One end ofthe rotating axis 80Y is supported by a bearing portion 34a2 of the heldportion 34Y. The coil 81Y is extended from the opening A over the rearend (bottom) inside the container body 33Y. The gear 33c rotates aroundthe container body 33Y to rotate the rotating axis 80Y and the coil 81Y.

Therefore, the toner contained in the container body 33Y is conveyedtoward the opening A by the toner conveying force of the coil 81Y.

Because the outer diameter of the coil 81Y is smaller than the internaldiameter of the container body 33Y, the toner conveying force can beexerted on the toner near the rotational central axis which is far fromthe inner circumferential surface of the container body 33Y.Furthermore, the coil 81Y is comparatively flexible in shape and issupported only by one end thereof, thus, the position is swaying duringrotation. This can totally exert the toner conveying force from theinner circumferential surface of the container body 33Y over therotational central axis. Therefore, even if the large amount of toner iscontained in the container body 33Y and toner aggregation occurs thereindue to environmental changes or “being left too long”, the aggregationstatus is weakened by the toner conveying force due to the coil 81Y, andreduction in toner amount to be discharged can thereby be prevented.

In the ninth embodiment, similarly to the embodiments, when the tonercontainer 32Y is attached/detached to/from the toner-container holder31, the plug member 34d of the held portion 34Y opens/closes the toneroutlet B in synchronization with the attachment/detachment operationperformed by the one action. In this case, the positioning of the heldportion 34Y is started, and then the plug member 34d starts to open thetoner outlet B. Furthermore, the sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2 areprovided in the held portion 34Y so as to slide along thetoner-container holder 31 in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holder 31.

As explained above, in the ninth embodiment, similarly to theembodiments, the configuration of the toner container installed in thetoner-container holder is optimized based on its longitudinal directionset as the horizontal direction. Therefore, the operability/workabilityupon the replacement is improved, and the occurrence of toner stain canbe surely reduced.

The coil 81Y is used as the conveyor member in the ninth embodiment, buta screw can also be used as the conveyor member. In this case also, thesame effect as that of the fourth embodiment can be obtained.

Tenth Embodiment

A tenth embodiment of the present invention is explained in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 33 and FIG. 34.

FIG. 33 is a cross-section of a toner container according to the tenthembodiment, which corresponds to FIG. 32 according to the ninthembodiment. FIG. 34 is a schematic of a plate member 84Y. The tonercontainer according to the tenth embodiment is different from the ninthembodiment in that the plate member 84Y is used as the conveyor member.

As shown in FIG. 33, the toner container 32Y mainly includes thecontainer body 33Y and the held portion 34Y.

The opening A is provided in the head of the container body 33Y, and thegear 33c is rotatably provided around the outer periphery of the openingA. The gear 33c is engaged with the drive gear of the apparatus body 100to be rotated, similarly to the ninth embodiment.

A threaded rod 83Y is integrally formed with the gear 33c, and the platemember 84Y is provided on the threaded rod 83Y. More specifically, amale screw portion 83Ya of the threaded rod 83Y is screwed with a femalescrew portion 84Ya in the plate member 84Y (see FIG. 34). Referring toFIG. 34, a notched portion is formed on the plate member 84Y, and thisnotched portion is engaged with a guide portion 85Y which is protrudedalong the inner circumferential surface of the container body 33Y.

Referring to FIG. 33, the threaded rod 83Y is supported at its one endby the bearing portion 34a2 of the held portion 34Y, and is supported atthe other end by a bearing portion provided in the rear side of thecontainer body 33Y. The gear 33c is made to rotate around the containerbody 33Y, and the threaded rod 83Y is also integrally rotated.Therefore, the plate member 84Y engaged with the threaded rod 83Y movesalong the screw feeding direction (movement in the arrow directiontoward the opening A) while being guided by the guide portion 85Y(without being rotated following the threaded rod 83Y). The speed of themovement of the plate member 84Y is set comparatively slowly inaccordance with the speed of toner consumption of the container body33Y.

In this manner, the toner contained in the container body 33Y isconveyed to the opening A side by the toner conveying force of the platemember 84Y.

Here, the outer diameter of the plate member 84Y is formed so as to beslightly smaller than the internal diameter of the container body 33Y,and the toner conveying force can be exerted on the toner near therotational central axis A which is far from the inner circumferentialsurface of the container body 33Y. Therefore, even if the large amountof toner is contained in the container body 33Y and toner aggregationoccurs therein due to environmental changes or “being left too long”,the aggregation status is weakened by the toner conveying force due tothe plate member 84Y, and reduction in toner amount to be discharged canthereby be prevented.

In the tenth embodiment, similarly to the embodiments, when the tonercontainer 32Y is attached/detached to/from the toner-container holder31, the plug member 34d of the held portion 34Y opens/closes the toneroutlet B in synchronization with the attachment/detachment operationperformed by the one action. In this case, the positioning of the heldportion 34Y is started, and then the plug member 34d starts to open thetoner outlet B. Furthermore, the sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2 areprovided in the held portion 34Y so as to slide along thetoner-container holder 31 in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holder 31.

As explained above, in the tenth embodiment, similarly to theembodiments, the configuration of the toner container installed in thetoner-container holder is optimized based on its longitudinal directionset as the horizontal direction. Therefore, the operability/workabilityupon the replacement is improved, and the occurrence of toner stain canbe surely reduced.

Eleventh Embodiment

An eleventh embodiment of the present invention is explained in detailbelow with reference to FIG. 35 to FIG. 42. In the conventionaltechnology, there is little toner stain in the toner outlet of the tonercontainer, and such trouble that the user's hands become stained withtoner by touching the toner outlet can be expected to be suppressed.However, there are some problems that the operability (setting) upon thereplacement of the toner container is inadequate because the position ofthe held portion is not fixed when the toner container is installed andthat toner may scatter from near the toner outlet upon the replacementof the toner container.

To resolve the problems, the following embodiment provides atoner-container holder and an image forming apparatus capable ofreliably reducing the occurrence of toner scatter with easy operationwhen the toner container is replaced.

The configuration and the operation of the overall image formingapparatus are explained first.

FIG. 35 is a schematic of a toner supply path of the image formingapparatus according to the eleventh embodiment. The overallconfiguration of the image forming apparatus according to the eleventhembodiment is the same as that of the image forming apparatus accordingto the first embodiment with reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 4.However, there are some different points in a toner supply device of theimage forming apparatus according to the eleventh embodiment from thetoner supply device 59 of the image forming apparatus according to thefirst embodiment. That is, as shown in FIG. 35, the plug member 34d doesnot include the claw member 76 shown in FIG. 3, and the ID chip 35 ofthe toner container 32Y is directly provided on the flat portion of thefront end thereof without providing the protrusion portion 34a1 on thehead of the held portion 34Y. The rest of the components are the same asthose of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

The toner container is explained below with reference to FIG. 36 to FIG.38.

Similarly to the first embodiment explained with reference to FIG. 1 andFIG. 4, in the eleventh embodiment, the four substantially cylindricaltoner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K (toner bottles) are detachablyprovided in the toner-container holder 31. The toner containers 32Y,32M, 32C, and 32K are replaced with new ones when they come to the endof their lives such that almost all of toner contained is consumed andthe container becomes empty. The toner of each color contained in thetoner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K is supplied as necessary to eachdeveloping device of the imaging units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K through thetoner supply path as shown in FIG. 35.

FIG. 36 is a perspective view of the toner container 32Y. FIG. 37 is across-section of a head side (the side where the held portion 34Y isprovided) of the toner container 32Y. FIG. 38 is a schematic of thetoner container 32Y of FIG. 37 when viewed from the direction of thearrow M.

The other three toner containers 32M, 32C, and 32K have almost the sameconfiguration as the toner container 32Y containing yellow toner, exceptdifferent toner colors contained. Hereinafter, explanation of the otherthree toner containers 32M, 32C, and 32K is omitted, and only the tonercontainer 32Y containing yellow toner is explained below.

Referring to the toner container according to the eleventh embodimentshown in FIG. 36 to FIG. 38, the portions equivalent to those of thetoner container of the first embodiment are assigned with the samereference numerals as those in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, and explanation thereofis omitted. The toner container according to the eleventh embodimentdoes not include the stirring member 33f, the claw member 76, therotating spindle 76a, the protrusion portion 34a1, the concave portion34m, the fitting member 31d, and the convex portion 34n, which areprovided in the toner container of the first embodiment. Further, thedrive gear 31g of FIG. 5 is not shown in FIG. 36.

The toner container according to the eleventh embodiment includes thecompression spring 34f as the biasing unit. The compression spring 34fis provided on the right side of the plug member 34d of FIG. 37 so as tobias the plug member 34d in the direction of closing the toner outlet B.The ID chip 35 of the eleventh embodiment is disposed on the positionthat is the plane of the held portion 34Y orthogonal to theattachment/detachment direction (i.e., in the direction shown by thearrow in FIG. 36) with respect to the toner-container holder 31 and thatfaces the communication circuit 74 during the attachment/detachmentoperation.

The sliding portions 34c1 and 34c2 are provided in the holder 34c of theheld portion 34Y so as to slide along the toner-container holder 31 insynchronization with the attachment/detachment operation to/from thetoner-container holder 31.

More specifically, the first sliding portion 34c1 is a flat portionformed so as to be parallel with the sliding face (guide rail) 31a of abase plate 310a (which is a plane with a flat face formed upward; seeFIG. 10) provided in the toner-container holder 31, the flat portionbeing provided in the bottom of the held portion 34Y with which theattachment/detachment is operated. Furthermore, the second slidingportion 34c2 is a flat portion formed so as to be parallel with thesliding face 31b (which is a plane with a flat face formed sideward; seeFIG. 10) of the toner-container holder 31, the flat portion beingprovided in the side portion of the held portion 34Y with which theattachment/detachment is operated.

As shown in FIG. 37, the toner container 32Y has the toner outlet B (orthe plug member 34d) provided in the lower side in the verticaldirection (lower side in FIG. 37) than the opening A of the containerbody 33Y while the toner container 32Y is set in the toner-containerholder 31.

This allows the toner in the toner container 32Y to move in thedirection indicated by the dotted line of FIG. 37 and be discharged fromthe toner outlet B opened in synchronization with the attachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y. In other words, the toner in thecontainer body 33Y is discharged from the opening A, and is dischargedfrom the toner outlet B provided in the lower side in the verticaldirection.

The toner outlet B is provided in a more rear side (left side of FIG.37) than the container body 33Y (or the opening A) with respect to theattachment direction to the toner-container holder 31.

This allows the toner outlet B to be smoothly and unfailinglyopened/closed in synchronization with the attachment/detachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y along the longitudinal direction(axial direction). In other words, when the toner container 32Y is to beattached, the positioning of the held portion 34Y is started, and thenthe nozzle 70 and the plug member 34d are preferentially contacted witheach other. Furthermore, because the holding portion 73 of thetoner-container holder 31 including the nozzle 70 can be provided in therear side in the attachment direction (left side of FIG. 37), the layoutof the apparatus body 100 is simplified.

Further, the toner outlet B is provided in a more rear side (left sideof FIG. 37) in the attachment direction to the toner-container holder31, than the gear 33c which is disposed on the periphery of thecontainer body 33Y and is near the opening A.

This allows the toner outlet B to be smoothly and reliably opened/closedin synchronization with the attachment/detachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y along the longitudinal direction. In other words, when thetoner container 32Y is to be attached, the positioning of the heldportion 34Y is started, and then the nozzle 70 and the plug member 34dare preferentially contacted with each other, and thereafter, the gear33c and the drive gear 31g are engaged with each other.

The toner-container holder 31 according to the eleventh embodiment isexplained below. The toner-container holder 31 according to the eleventhembodiment is explained with reference to FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 in thefirst embodiment and FIG. 21 and FIG. 22 in the fourth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 10, the toner-container holder 31 includes the slidingface 31a along which a sliding portion in each held portion of the fourtoner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K slides; the holding portion 73for fixing the position of the holder 34c of the held portion; thenozzle 70 being an engaging member; a drive unit for transmitting arotational driving force to the container body 33Y; the communicationcircuit 74; and the arm pairs 90 serving as the biasing member and thesecond biasing member.

The holding portion 73 holds the held portions of the toner containers32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K each in the non-rotating manner. The holdingportion 73 includes sliding faces contacting the holder 34c and acontact face contacting a part of the cap cover 34b. Provided in thesliding faces (side faces) of the holding portion 73 are the positioningmembers 31c for positioning in synchronization with the attachmentoperation of the held portion 34Y (see FIG. 36). The positioning member31c is a convex portion extended along the attachment/detachmentdirection of the toner container 32Y.

The nozzle 70 as shown in FIG. 11 is provided in the holding portion 73for each toner color. Provided in the nozzle 70 is the toner supply port70a communicating with the toner outlet B which is formed in the heldportion 34Y of the toner container 32Y.

Referring to FIG. 10 and FIG. 21, the arm pairs 90 are provided for eachtoner color near the holding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31(position right before insertion of the held portion of the tonercontainer into the holding portion). As shown in FIG. 21, the arm pairs90 are disposed on both sides sandwiching the held portion of the tonercontainer.

Referring to FIG. 22, the arm pair 90 includes the first arm 91, thesecond arm 92, the spindle 93, and the torsion spring 94. The arm pair90 is integrally provided via the spindle 93, and affects the force onboth directions in the direction of rotation around the spindle 93 bythe torsion spring 94. More specifically, the first arm 91 and thesecond arm 92 affect the force on both directions in the direction ofrotation around the spindle 93. The force increases more as an angleformed between the first arm 91 and the second arm 92 increases.

The arm pairs 90 configured in the above manner serve as a biasing unitfor biasing the held portion 34Y (toner container 32Y) toward theholding portion 73 (biasing it toward the direction of the arrow Q ofFIG. 4) in synchronization with the attachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y. Furthermore, the arm pairs 90 also serve as the secondbiasing member for biasing the held portion 34Y (toner container 32Y) inthe direction (opposite direction to the arrow Q of FIG. 4) in which theheld portion 34Y (toner container 32Y) is separated from the holdingportion 73 in synchronization with the detachment operation of the tonercontainer 32Y.

FIG. 39 is a schematic of how the yellow toner container 32Y is attachedto the toner-container holder (movement in the direction of the arrow Q)when viewed from the longitudinal direction. FIG. 40 is a schematic ofhow the attachment of the toner container 32Y is progressed (when thetoner outlet B starts to be opened) when viewed from the longitudinaldirection. FIG. 41 is a schematic of the toner container 32Y attached tothe toner-container holder 31 (when the toner outlet B is fully opened)when viewed from the longitudinal direction.

The attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Y to/fromthe toner-container holder 31 is the same as that of the fourthembodiment explained with reference to FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 and FIG. 23 toFIG. 25.

In the eleventh embodiment, the movement of the held portion 34Y to theholding portion 73 and the opening of the toner outlet B of the tonercontainer 32Y are performed by the biasing force of the arm pairs 90.

FIG. 42 is a graph indicating a relation between a moving position ofthe held portion 34Y (toner container 32Y) and a load applied from thearm pairs 90 to the held portion 34Y during the attachment operation ofthe toner container.

As shown in FIG. 42, when the held portion 34Y moves to the position ofW1 (positions in FIG. 39 and FIG. 23), the held portion 34Y undergoesthe force in the opposite direction to the attachment direction(direction of the arrow Q). In other words, the force in the directionof separating the toner container 32Y from the holding portion 73 isapplied to the toner container 32Y right before being biased toward theholding portion 73 by the arm pairs 90. This causes the user to push thetoner container 32Y into the side of the holding portion 73 with thestrength overcoming the force. Therefore, the pushing strength by theuser is added to the biasing force of the arm pairs 90 applied to theheld portion 34Y, and the toner outlet B is thereby burst open.

The held portion 34Y further moves to the position of W2 in FIG. 42(positions in FIG. 40 and FIG. 24), and the held portion 34Y undergoesthe force (biasing force by the arm pairs 90) in the attachmentdirection (the direction of the arrow Q). At this time, an object to besealed by the packing 34e of the held portion 34Y is switched from theplug member 34d to the nozzle 70. The switching speed is accelerated bythe arm pairs 90, and this enables reduction of the time for whichsealing capability is degraded due to switching between the objects tobe sealed.

The position of the held portion 34Y is fixed in the position of W3(positions in FIG. 41 and FIG. 25) in FIG. 42.

In this manner, in the eleventh embodiment, the speed of opening thetoner outlet B of the toner container 32Y is mechanically determined bythe arm pairs 90 without being determined based on the user's operationspeed (the speed of pushing the toner container). Therefore, the timefor which the sealing capability of the held portion 34Y is degraded isnot made extremely long, but made short almost constantly at any time,and toner scattered from near the toner outlet B is thereby reduced.

In the eleventh embodiment, the biasing operation by the arm pairs 90and the positioning operation of the held portion 34Y are started insynchronization with one action (except the open/close operation of themain-body door) such that the sliding portion 34c1 of the tonercontainer 32Y slides along the sliding face 31a, and then, the insertionoperation of the nozzle 70 is started, and finally, linkage of the gear33c to the drive gear is completed. This allows improved operability ofthe attachment operation of the toner container 32Y.

When the toner container 32Y is to be taken out (removed) from thetoner-container holder 31 of the apparatus body 100, the operation isperformed in the reverse of the attachment. In this case, the nozzle 70also separates from the holder 34c in synchronization with the operationsuch that the toner container 32Y separates from the holding portion 73,and the plug member 34d is moved to the position of closing the toneroutlet B by the biasing force of the compression spring 34f.

In this manner, the detachment operation of the toner container 32Y iscompleted by one action (except the open/close operation of themain-body door) such that the sliding portion 34c1 of the tonercontainer 32Y slides along the sliding face 31a.

At this time, the arm pairs 90 serve as the second biasing members forbiasing the held portion 34Y (toner container 32Y) in the direction inwhich the held portion 34Y is separated from the holding portion 73 insynchronization with the detachment operation of the toner container32Y. This allows the speed of closing the toner outlet B of the tonercontainer 32Y to be mechanically determined by the arm pairs 90 withoutbeing determined based on the user's operation speed (the speed ofpulling out the toner container). Therefore, the time for which thesealing capability of the held portion 34Y is degraded is not madeextremely long, but made short almost constantly at any time, and tonerscattered from near the toner outlet B is thereby reduced.

The effects in the eleventh embodiment are sorted out relating to thebackground art.

In the technologies described in Patent documents 1 to 4, if the user'soperation speed of manually attaching/detaching the toner container getsslow, toner may scatter from near the toner outlet.

More specifically, in the technologies described in Patent document 1and Patent document 2, the user manually rotates the held portion of thetoner container on the toner-container holder, to cause the shutter tomove and open the toner outlet. In other words, the speed of opening thetoner outlet of the toner container is determined based on the user'soperation speed (the speed of rotating the held portion). If the speedof opening the toner outlet of the toner container is extremely slow,there is a high probability that the toner near the toner outlet mayscatter outside the toner container, and the apparatus body may becontaminated with the toner. This is because the sealing capability nearthe toner outlet during the opening operation of the toner outlet(dynamic state) is degraded as compared with that before and after thetoner outlet is opened (static state). Therefore, if the speed ofopening the toner outlet of the toner container is extremely decreased,the time for which the sealing capability is degraded is increased, andthe toner is thereby scattered from near the toner outlet.

Likewise, in the technology described in Patent document 4, the usermanually rotates the open/close holder with the toner storage container(toner container) set therein, to cause the toner conveying pipe(nozzle) to push the plug member and open the toner outlet sealed withthe packing. In other words, the speed of opening the toner outlet ofthe toner storage container is determined based on the user's operationspeed (the speed of rotating the open/close holder). Therefore,similarly to the technologies in Patent document 1 and Patent document2, if the speed of opening the toner outlet of the toner storagecontainer is extremely decreased, the time for which the sealingcapability due to packing is degraded is increased, and the toner isthereby scattered from near the toner outlet.

Here, to resolve the problems, some measures can also be considered.That is, an opening area of the toner outlet is made smaller or adhesionof a seal member disposed near the toner outlet is enhanced. However,the former measure restricts the toner amount to be discharged from thetoner container, and the latter measure reduces the operability ofattaching/detaching the toner container caused by the seal member withenhanced adhesion.

In the eleventh embodiment, the toner-container holder 31 is configuredso as to bias the toner container 32Y toward the holding portion 73 ofthe toner-container holder 31 in synchronization with the attachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y. This allows reliable reduction inoccurrence of toner scatter no matter how the user operates forreplacement of the toner container 32Y, without reducing the toneramount to be discharged from the toner container 32Y and the operabilityupon the replacement.

The toner container 32Y according to the eleventh embodiment includesthe held portion 34Y with the toner outlet B provided downwardly in thevertical direction. The toner outlet B is provided in the lower sidethan the opening A in the vertical direction, and the plug member 34d issurely positioned in synchronization with the attachment operation, andthen, is pushed by the nozzle 70 to open the toner outlet B sealed withthe packing 34e. Therefore, there is little toner stain in the toneroutlet B, and such trouble that the user's hands become stained withtoner by touching the toner outlet B is prevented.

Because the attachment/detachment operation of the toner container 32Yto/from the toner-container holder 31 is performed by one actionassociated with the sliding of the sliding portion 34c1, theoperability/workability upon replacement of the toner container 32Y isimproved. Particularly, by providing the sliding portion 34c1 in thebottom of the held portion 34Y, the sliding portion 34c1 slides alongthe sliding face 31a while supporting the toner container 32Y.

Moreover, the attachment operation of the toner container 32Y isperformed by starting the sliding of the sliding portion 34c1 while theuser directly grips the gripper 33d, starting the positioning of theheld portion 34Y together with the biasing by the arm pairs 90, startingthe insertion of the nozzle 70, and finishing the positioning of theheld portion 34Y, the insertion of the nozzle 70, and connecting to thedrive unit as soon as the sliding is finished. Therefore, the user gainsa click feeling when the held portion 34Y is positioned at the same timewhen the sliding of the held portion 34Y (attachment operation by oneaction) is progressed, and feels certain that no erroneous operationoccurs in the attachment operation.

Furthermore, the toner container 32Y is not set in the toner-containerholder 31 (apparatus body 100) from the upper side thereof, but theattachment/detachment is performed from the front face of thetoner-container holder 31 (apparatus body 100), thus, enhancing theflexibility of layout for the upper side of the toner-container holder31. For example, even if a scanner (document reader) is disposed rightabove the toner-container holder 31, the operability/workability uponattachment/detachment of the toner container 32Y does not deteriorate.Moreover, the flexibility of layout for the engagement position Dbetween the gear 33c of the toner container 32Y and the drive gear ofthe apparatus body 100 is also enhanced.

The toner container 32Y is installed in the apparatus body 100 bysetting its longitudinal direction as the horizontal direction, andtherefore, the toner capacity of the toner container 32Y is increasedwithout any effect on the layout in the height direction of the wholeimage forming apparatus 100, which allows reduction in the replacementfrequency.

As explained above, in the eleventh embodiment, when the toner container32Y is replaced, the operation for the replacement is easy, and theoccurrence of toner scatter can be surely reduced.

Furthermore, the toner-container holder 31 is configured so as to biasthe toner container 32Y toward the holding portion 73 of thetoner-container holder 31 in synchronization with the attachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y. This allows reliable reduction inoccurrence of toner scatter no matter how the user operates forreplacement of the toner container 32Y, without reducing the toneramount to be discharged from the toner container 32Y and the operabilityupon the replacement.

In the eleventh embodiment, only the toner is contained in eachcontainer body of the toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K, buttwo-component developer containing carrier and toner can also be storedin each container body of the toner containers 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32Kfor the image forming apparatus 100 that supplies the two-componentdeveloper to each developing device as necessary. Even if the case, byproviding the arm pairs 90 for biasing the toner container 32Y towardthe holding portion 73 of the toner-container holder 31 insynchronization with the attachment operation of the toner container32Y, the occurrence of toner scatter can unfailingly be reduced.

Twelfth Embodiment

A twelfth embodiment is explained in detail below with reference to FIG.43 to FIG. 46.

FIG. 43 is a perspective view of the toner container 32Y detachablyprovided in the toner-container holder 31 according to the twelfthembodiment, and corresponds to FIG. 36 according to the eleventhembodiment. FIG. 44 is a cross-section of the toner container 32Yaccording to the twelfth embodiment. The toner-container holder 31according to the twelfth embodiment is different from that of theeleventh embodiment in a point that a positioning pin 70b engaged with apositioning hole 340k of the toner container 32Y is provided in thenozzle 70.

Similarly to the eleventh embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100according to the twelfth embodiment includes the toner-container holder31 (set portion) as an attachment portion provided between the stackportion (discharge portion) 30 and the intermediate transfer unit(intermediate transfer element) 15. The attachment portion is a portionwhere the toner containers (toner bottles) 32Y, 32M, 32C, and 32K beingagent storage containers are detachably attached, each of the tonercontainers storing toner to be supplied to each developing device of theimaging units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K.

As shown in FIG. 43 and FIG. 44, the toner container (toner bottle) 32Yset in the apparatus body (printer) 100 includes the cylindricalcontainer body (bottle body) 33Y with the opening A formed in one endthereof, and the held portion (cap) 34Y relatively rotatable withrespect to the container body 33Y with the opening A. Formed around theperiphery of the container body 33Y is the projection 33b (spiral thatis projected toward the inside of the container) being a conveyorportion for conveying the toner contained to the opening A side throughrotation. The opening A is a cylinder which is formed around the axisline (rotating axis) of the container body 33Y and of which diameter issmaller than the diameter of the container body 33Y. To discharge thetoner from the opening A having the smaller diameter, a second spiral(second projection) and a suction portion for sucking the toner towardthe second spiral are provided between the projection 33b and theopening A (although both of them are not shown, they are provided in alocation behind a holder 134m).

The held portion (cap) 34Y is attached to the container body 33Y throughthe holder 134m. As shown in FIG. 44, a claw (claw portion) 340b1 isprovided on an outer periphery so of the cylinder of the held portion34Y. The claw 340b1 is engaged in a circumferential groove 33e formed inthe container body 33Y, and this allows relative rotation of the heldportion 34Y and the container body 33Y. The joint portion between thecontainer body 33Y and the held portion 34Y is formed with the sealmember (seal) 37, to prevent toner leakage from the joint portion. Thegear (bottle gear) 33c is provided integrally with the container body33Y near the position of attaching the held portion 34Y of the containerbody 33Y. The gear 33c is used as an input portion for rotating thecontainer body 33Y.

The toner outlet (supply port) B is formed in the lower part of theperiphery of the held portion 34Y. More specifically, the toner outlet Bis integrally provided with a funnel-shaped opening 340c2 provided in aholder (output member) 340c. The nozzle 70 (toner conveying pipe) beingthe engaging member is inserted into a nozzle hole 340n provided in theholder 340c, and the toner outlet B and the nozzle 70 therebycommunicate with each other through the toner supply port 70a. The plugmember (shutter) 34d is fitted in the nozzle hole 340n, and when thetoner container 32Y is not engaged with the nozzle 70, a series of tonersupply path is blocked. Although it is not shown in the twelfthembodiment, the biasing unit is set not in the toner container 32Y sidebut in the toner-container holder 31 side, the biasing unit biasing theplug member 34d in the direction resisting the direction in which it ispushed by the nozzle 70.

As shown in FIG. 43, the positioning pins 70b are arranged on both sidesof the nozzle body on the side of the apparatus body 100 with the nozzle70 provided therein. The positioning pin 70b is inserted into thepositioning hole 340k provided in the held portion 34Y. The supply sideof the nozzle 70 communicates with the suction port of the suction-typescrew pump 60, similarly to the eleventh embodiment. As the screw pump,a uniaxial eccentric screw pump (Mohno pump) capable of continuouslyfeeding a fixed amount with a high solid/gas ratio can be used.

In the toner container 32Y configured in the above manner, the heldportion 34Y with the holder (output member) 340c fixed thereto isprojected outwardly from the outer circumferential surface of thecontainer body 33Y, when viewed from the direction of the arrow M ofFIG. 43. In other words, the holder 340c, which is a projected portionprojected along the attachment/detachment direction, is formed in theheld portion 34Y so as not to overlap the projection plane in theattachment/detachment direction (directions of the arrows M and Q) ofthe container body 33Y.

When the toner container 32Y is correctly set in the toner-containerholder (set portion) 31 in the direction of the arrow Q, the positioningpins 70b are inserted into the positioning holes 340k and the nozzle 70is inserted into the nozzle hole 340n. More specifically, by moving thetoner container 32Y along the axial direction (longitudinal direction)with the held portion 34Y as the front end, the nozzle 70 is insertedinto the nozzle hole 340n. Then, when the nozzle 70 is inserted into thenozzle hole 340n, the plug member 34d is pushed out toward the rear sidefrom the nozzle hole 340n, and the toner supply port (reception hole)70a of the nozzle 70 communicates with the toner outlet B (opening340c2) to enable toner supply.

In the toner-container holder according to the twelfth embodiment also,the toner supply operation is performed in the same manner as that ofthe eleventh embodiment. In other words, the toner contained is fed tothe held portion 34Y side through rotation of the container body 33Y,and the toner outlet B is filled with the toner. If the toner outlet Bwhich is the suction side is filled with the toner, the suction-typescrew pump can certainly convey the toner. Therefore, the toner of theamount according to the operation time can be supplied to the developingdevice.

Toner supply is performed in this manner, while the user sets the tonercontainer 32Y in the toner-container holder 31. Therefore, if the tonercontainer 32Y is not correctly set therein or if there is a set failure,the nozzle 70 is not properly inserted into the nozzle hole 340n, whichleads to a failure in supply of toner.

FIG. 45 is a perspective view of the base plate 310a provided in thetoner-container holder (set portion) 31, and FIG. 46 is a partiallyenlarged cross-section of the base plate 310a on which the tonercontainer 32Y is provided.

Referring to FIG. 45 (see also FIG. 10), the base plate 310a provided inthe toner-container holder 31 has spaces in which the toner containers32Y for four colors can be attached, and the sliding faces 31a and 31bare formed in each attachment position of the toner containers 32Y. Thefour toner containers 32Y are set in one piece of the base plate 310a inthe twelfth embodiment, but the base plate 310a can also beindependently provided for each toner container 32Y according to thenumber of the toner containers 32Y.

As shown in FIG. 46, the sliding face 31a and the sliding faces 31bformed in the base plate 310a form a guide groove 31a11 in which theheld portion 34Y is fit. The sliding faces 31b of the guide groove 31a11and the upper surface of the base plate 310a form a guide edge 31a12 asa bend, which supports the container body 33Y. The guide groove 31a11 isconfigured so as to guide the holder 340c (projected portion) projectedfrom the outer circumference of the container body 33Y when viewed inthe vertical direction on the paper of FIG. 46. In other words, theguide groove 31a11 is formed so that the projected portion 340c of theheld portion 34Y is fitted in the guide groove 31a11. The guide edge31a12 is formed along an edge between the start point and the end pointof the guide groove 31a11, and is chamfered so as to easily support therotating container body 33Y.

Because the toner-container holder 31 configured in the above mannerincludes the sliding faces 31a and 31b which form the guide groove31a11, when the held portion 34Y is fitted in the guide groove 31a11,the rotation around the center of axle of the held portion 34Y isrestricted. Therefore, if the toner container 32Y is placed on thesliding face 31a while the held portion 34Y is fitted in the guidegroove 31a11 to move along the direction of the arrow Q, the tonercontainer 32Y can be easily, reliably, and correctly set. Morespecifically, by fitting the held portion 34Y in the guide groove 31a11,displacement does not occur in the nozzle hole 340n and the positioninghole 340k. Therefore, when the toner container 32Y is set therein in thearrow Q direction, the positioning pins 70b are surely inserted into thepositioning holes 340k, and the nozzle 70 is reliably inserted into thenozzle hole 340n.

In the twelfth embodiment, the toner container 32Y slides along thesliding face 31a in parallel with the axis line from start to completionof the attachment operation. At the same time, the method may be changedto a method of sliding the toner container 32Y, at the beginning of theattachment operation, in the direction orthogonal to the arrow Qdirection with the held portion 34Y as the head, and then, attaching itin the arrow Q direction. The method may also be changed to a method ofsetting the toner container 32Y on the sliding face 31a from the upperside thereof at the beginning of the attachment operation, and thensliding it along the arrow Q direction to be attached.

The image forming apparatus 100 according to the twelfth embodiment isconfigured to provide a toner discharge mechanism in the rear sideviewed from the operator (user), and to dock the nozzle hole 340n of thetoner container 32Y with the nozzle 70 of the apparatus body 100 side inthe rear side of the apparatus body 100. Based on the configurationabove, even if toner scatter occurs in the docking portion, the positionis far from the operator. Therefore, the operator's hand is not easilystained with toner as compared with the case where the toner dischargemechanism (docking structure) is in the near side of the apparatus body100. Further, because the docking structure is provided in the rear sideof the apparatus body 100, the operator hardly operates while holdingthe held portion 34Y upon its attachment. And it is verified throughexperiments on the operations that the operator usually holds thecontainer body 33Y to push it in. If the operator holds the containerbody 33Y, then the held portion 34Y side may be rotated duringoperation, which may cause the operability to get worse, but in thetwelfth embodiment, because the rotation of the held portion 34Y isrestricted by the sliding face 31a, the operability is improved.Therefore, even if the toner discharge mechanism (docking structure) isprovided in the rear side of the apparatus body 100, the operabilityupon replacement of the toner container 32Y is improved.

The relation of the configuration and the effect of the toner-containerholder 31 according to the twelfth embodiment is summarized below. Mostof the configurations and the effects as explained below are common tothose of the toner-container holder according to the eleventhembodiment.

In the twelfth embodiment, the main part of the held portion (cap) 34Yon the discharge side of the toner container 32Y is a substantialcylinder, and part of the cylinder has the holder 340c (projectedportion, protrusion portion) projected toward the space including thetoner shutter mechanism. Based on the holder 340c, the toner container32Y is fitted in the guide groove 31a11 formed on the side of theapparatus body 100 for attachment, the positional relation with thenozzle 70 for sucking toner can be accurately determined.

The toner container 32Y is moved along the sliding face 31a, and thetoner outlet B is engaged with the nozzle 70, to prevent a set failureof the toner container 32Y or erroneous setting thereof. According tothe configuration of the twelfth embodiment, as compared with Patentdocuments 1 to 4 which require a plurality of actions for the detachmentoperation of the toner container 32Y, the detachment operation of thetoner container 32Y is completed by one action (except the open/closeoperation of the main-body door) such that the toner container 32Y movesalong the sliding face 31a.

The guide edges 31a12 for the sliding face 31a are provided, and thishelps rotatably and surely support the toner container 32Y after beingattached.

The guide groove 31a11 for the sliding face 31a is provided, and thishelps eliminate displacement of the toner container 32Y upon itsattachment, thus unfailingly preventing a set failure or an erroneousset of the toner container 32Y.

If the user holds only the container body 33Y and tries to set it in theapparatus body, the held portion 34Y is rotating unless any thingrestricts the rotation. At this time, a moment force is produced aroundthe center of the rotation of the held portion 34Y, and the holder(projected portion) 340c faces downward. Therefore, in the twelfthembodiment, the guide groove 31a11 is formed in the lower side in thevertical direction. With this formation, even if the user holds only thecontainer body 33Y, the holder 340c is fitted in the guide groove 31a11on its own, and the erroneous-set prevention performance of the tonercontainer 32Y is improved.

In the twelfth embodiment, because the toner outlet B for docking thenozzle 70 (toner supply port 70a) is formed in the holder (projectedportion) 340c, the toner outlet B moves along the sliding face 31a, andthis allows prevention of rotational displacement of the toner outlet B.Therefore, the user can easily and surely dock the toner outlet B withthe nozzle 70 without being conscious especially. Different from theopening operation of the toner outlet by the collet chuck system inPatent document 5 and Patent document 6, the twelfth embodiment has amechanism of pushing the plug member 34d by the nozzle 70 insynchronization with the attachment operation to open the toner outlet Bwithout using a lever or the like. This prevents toner scattering uponreplacement of the toner container 32Y.

Because the user can easily perform attachment/detachment operation ofthe toner container 32Y by holding only the container body 33Y, thetoner discharge mechanism (docking portion between the nozzle 70 and thetoner outlet B) can be provided in the rear side of the apparatus body100.

As explained above, the twelfth embodiment is configured to allow easyoperation, and also allow occurrence of toner scatter to be surelyreduced when the toner container 32Y is replaced.

A thirteenth embodiment is explained below with reference to FIG. 47 toFIG. 50. FIG. 47 is a schematic of the toner container 32Y in which aplug member 4734d closes the toner outlet B, and FIG. 48 shows the sameview when the plug member 4734d opens the toner outlet B. Although FIG.47 and FIG. 48 correspond to FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 respectively in thefirst embodiment, there are points mainly different from the firstembodiment. The points are such that grooves 34p are formed in a heldportion 4734Y and the plug member 4734d is differently shaped. FIG. 49is a schematic of the holder 34c provided separately from the heldportion 4734Y and not shown in FIG. 47 and FIG. 48, and of a snapmechanism for engaging the holder 34c with the held portion 4734Y, tomake the configuration of the plug member 4734d easy to see. FIG. 50 isan exploded perspective view of the holder 34c to explain details of thecomponents of the holder 34c. The configuration of the holder 34c is thesame as that of the first embodiment. The details of theseconfigurations and the effect due to these configurations are explainedbelow.

The groove 34p opened downwardly is formed at two positions which are ina path of the claw member 76. These grooves allow the claws of the clawmember 76 to move into or move back along the respective grooves 34pduring the attachment/detachment operation. A corner portion 34p1,against which the claw member 76 butts, and a wall surface 34c3 (a partof the sliding portion 34c1) are provided at the rear end of the groove34p. Specifically, the wall surface 34c3 is used when the claw member 76changes its posture after butting against the corner portion 34p1 andmoves while the claws of the claw member 76 are in contact with the wallsurface 34c3.

FIG. 48 shows how the plug member 4734d which is pushed by the nozzle 70opens the toner outlet B. The claw member 76 engages with the back of aprotrusion portion 4734d1, as explained below. The details and theeffect of the protrusion portion 4734d1 will be explained later withreference to FIG. 50 to FIG. 52. Further, the operation of the tonercontainer 32Y in which the claw member 76 is engaged with the protrusionportion 4734d1 and the effect thereof will be explained later withreference to FIG. 53A to FIG. 56B.

Similarly to the configuration of the first embodiment, the plug member4734d of FIG. 47 has a plate ((hereinafter, “protrusion portion 4734d1”)which is an engaging portion for engaging the claw member 76, and isextended and protruded to both sides of the axis of the cylinder portionof the plug member 4734d, the both sides being perpendicular to theaxial direction of the cylinder portion. The plug member 4734d also hastwo plates (hereinafter, “second protrusion portions 4734d2”) protrudedfrom near the both ends of the protrusion portion 4734d1 so as to formplanes perpendicular to the plate surface of the protrusion portion4734d1. Similarly to the first embodiment, the protrusion portion 4734d1is extended and projected to the both sides from the axis of thecylinder portion of the plug member 4734d, and the protrusion portion4734d1 is engaged with the claw member 76 at symmetrical two positions.Therefore, the force to move the plug member 4734d by the claw member 76can be imparted evenly on both sides, and as a result, the closingoperation of the toner outlet B can be smoothly performed. In additionto or as an alternative, a spring may be used to urge the plug member4734d towards the closed position.

The backside 34c7 of the wall surface 34c3 has two storage portions 34q,one on each side of the plug member 4734d, as shown in FIG. 50. Morespecifically, the storage portion 34q stores both the protrusion portion4734d1 and the second protrusion portion 4734d2 when the toner outlet Bis completely closed by the plug member 4734d such that the claw member76 does not contact 4734d1 and 4734d2 as the toner container is beingmounted into the image forming device. By providing the storage portion34q for storing the protrusion portion 4734d1, the protrusion portion4734d1 is not exposed to the outside when the toner outlet B is closed.Therefore, it is possible to prevent failure by the plug member 4734dbeing accidentally opened by erroneous operation by the user, namely,caused by the protrusion portion 4734d1 catching any projection or beingmoved by a user.

Further, the effect due to provision of the second protrusion portion4734d2 is explained below with respect to FIG. 51 and FIG. 52. FIG. 51is a schematic of how the plug member 4734d is displaced and theprotrusion portion 4734d1 moves back when the protrusion portion 4734d1is pushed inwardly by the nozzle 70 of the image forming apparatus, thuscausing the toner outlet to open. FIG. 52 is a schematic of how thesecond protrusion portion 4734d2 closes a space between the storageportion 34q and the protrusion portion 4734d1. As shown in FIG. 51, evenif the user starts the attachment operation when the plug member 4734dis partly displaced to the open position such that the protrusionportion 4734d1 is partly moved back and the toner outlet B is partlyopened, the second protrusion portion 4734d2 closes the space betweenthe storage portion 34q and the protrusion portion 4734d1 as shown inFIG. 52. Thus, when the plug member 4734d is partly pushed in as thetoner container is being mounted, the claw member 76 slides along thebottom surface 34c3, then slides along the bottom of the secondprotrusion portion 4734d2 until the claw member 76 slides past theprotrusion portion 4734d1. Therefore, it is possible to prevent afailure in the mounting process which opens the toner outlet B, orfailure in closing thereof by the plug member 4734d, thus preventingtoner scatter.

The configuration of the holder 34c formed with another componentdifferent from the held portion 4734Y is explained in detail below withreference to FIG. 49 and FIG. 50. Independent components are the plugmember 4734d made of resin having slidability such as polyacetal and thepacking 34e made of rubber, of which material is different from that ofthe holder 34c. And, these independent components are set in the holder34c explained in the first embodiment upon assembly. Therefore, it isdesired that the held portion 4734Y and the holder 34c be differentcomponents. As an alternative, these components can be integrally formedand/or be the same component. For the setting, as shown in FIG. 49, theholder 34c includes two convex claws 34c4 for the snap mechanism at thepositions on both sides of the plug member 4734d. The held portion 4734Yis formed with a thin plate so as to cause the positions correspondingto the convex claws 34c4 to have elasticity, and the thin plate hasengaging portions 34c6 for the snap mechanism in which holes 34c5 areformed so that the convex claws 34c4 can be engaged in the holes. Byfitting the holder 34c in the held portion 4734Y from its lower side sothat the convex claws 34c4 and the holes 34c5 are respectively engagedwith each other, the holder 34c and the held portion 4734Y can beassembled. The assembled state in which the convex claws 34c4 arerespectively engaged in the holes 34c5 is shown in FIG. 5 related to thefirst embodiment.

The configuration of the holder 34c and the components disposed thereinare explained below with reference to FIG. 50. The upper portion of theholder 34c has the mortar-shaped or funnel-shaped vertical path (opening340c2) that forms the toner outlet B, which is explained in the firstembodiment, and the packing (O-ring 34c8) is provided around the path soas to keep the tightness between the holder 34c and the held portion4734Y. The opening 340c2 has the nozzle hole 340n into which the nozzle70 is inserted and which is provided in its lower part in the horizontaldirection, and two pieces of packing are provided in both ends of thenozzle hole 340n. A packing 34e1, also considered to be a pliableelement or washer, out of the two pieces of packing, located in the sideof the nozzle 70 across the holder 34c, can be fixed in such a mannerthat the front side around the packing is pressed by a member 34r of theheld portion 4734Y. On the other hand, a packing 34e2 located in theside of the protrusion portion 4734d1 of the plug member 4734d acrossthe holder 34c is pressed by an arch-shaped member 34r1 formed in theheld portion 4734Y so as to avoid the cylinder portion of the plugmember 4734d when the holder 34c is set in the held portion 4734Y fromthe lower side. As a member for supporting the pressing, there is apressing support member 34s made of resin, which includes a ring and aplate protruded in the horizontal direction and is disposed between thepacking 34e2 and the arch-shaped member 34r1. To temporarily fix thepacking 34e1, the packing 34e2, and the pressing support member 34s tothe holder 34c upon assembly, the cylinder portion of the plug member4734d is previously inserted into these components, and the holder 34cis simply set in the held portion 4734Y from the lower side as shown inFIG. 49.

Further, plate member 34c9 that is concave-shaped in cross sectionextends in the axis direction of the nozzle hole 340n from the holder34c. This plate member 34c9 is configured to be moved by beingsandwiched by the two second protrusions 34d2 of the plug member 34d,and to prevent the plug member 34d from rotating.

The effect of the pressing support member 34s is explained below. To setthe holder 34c in the held portion 4734Y from the lower side, the heldportion 4734Y needs to have an arch-shaped space as explained above. Inthis case, if the pressing support member 34s is not provided, there isno member for pressing the packing 34e2 in the lower side of theperiphery thereof. If there is no such member, the packing 34e2 may curlup due to friction caused by the sliding operation of the plug member4734d, which leads to failure in toner conveyance and causes tonerscatter. Therefore, by providing the pressing support member 34s, thewhole periphery of the packing 34e2 can also be pressed, similarly tothe packing 34e1.

The relationship between the positioning operation of the held portion4734Y and the operation of the claw member 76 is explained below. Theclaw member 76 receives an upward force (force in the R2 direction ofFIG. 13) by the plate spring 77 which is the second biasing member. Theupward force acts so as to push the held portion 4734Y upward when theclaw member 76 is pushed downward to the position where the attachmentof the held portion 4734Y is not obstructed. Therefore, the attachmentoperation may be unsuccessful depending on the arrangement of the clawmember 76 in the toner-container holder 31 and the upward force of theplate spring 77.

In other words, there is a case where the claw member 76 is engaged withthe sliding portion 34c1 provided on the under-surface of the heldportion 4734Y before the positioning members 31c of the toner-containerholder 31 are engaged with the engaging portions 34g of the held portion4734Y. In this case, if the upward force is strong, the engagingportions 34g, with which the positioning members 31c of the holdingportion 73 on the main body of the image forming apparatus are engaged,are turned obliquely upward, and the positioning members 31c areinserted into the engaging portions 34g in that state. It is alsopossible for the positioning members 31c to fail to engage with theengaging portions 34g. In either situation, the positioning members 31care not properly engaged with the engaging portions 34g, which causes afailure in the attachment.

In order to prevent improper mounting due to movement or rotation of theheld portion 4734Y, according to one embodiment, the relative positionsof the positioning members 31c and the claw member 76 are arranged sothat during the mounting process, the positioning members engage withthe engaging portions 34g before the claw member 76 is engaged with orpushes upwardly on the held portion 4734Y. Alternatively, the spring 77which pushes up on the claw member 76 can be selected so that it hasless bias on the claw member 76. Such a smaller amount of bias or springstrength will reduce or eliminate the issue of the rotation or liftingof the held portion 4734Y. When the toner container, or cap or heldportion thereof initially contacts the claw member 76, the weaker springwill allow the claw member 76 to move and not change the orientation orangle of the toner container.

Alternative ways of keeping the toner container from rotating upwardlyso that container can be properly mounted include mounting a stopping orblocking device above the toner container or above the cap of the tonercontainer within the image forming device to keep the toner containerstable during mounting. The stopping device could be a flat andhorizontal blocking device, for example. Alternatively, a roundedstopping device which corresponds to the shape of the cap can beinstalled within the image forming device to keep the toner containerfrom raising or rotating upwardly.

Additionally or alternatively, the cap can be molded, machined, cut, orotherwise constructed so that it has gutters, channels, grooves or slotson the under-face, as illustrated in FIGS. 47-56B which are part of thethirteenth embodiment. With such a construction, portions of the clawmember 76 do not exert any or sufficient upward pressure to move thetoner container upwardly until the positioning members 31c which arepart of the image forming device, engage with the corresponding slots,gutters, or channels 34g which are engaging portions and part of the capof the toner container.

In the thirteenth embodiment, two grooves 34p into which the claw member76 can enter are formed on the plane that faces the nozzle 70 upon theattachment of the held portion 4734Y. Consequently, the connection tothe held portion is performed in such a manner that the positioningmembers 31c first start to engage the engaging portions 34g. Then, theclaw member 76 contacts the held portion and exerts an upward pressurethereon. The interaction of the positioning members 31c and engagingportions 34g prevent upward movement of the container or held portion,and thus during insertion, the claw member 76 is pushed downward so asnot to obstruct the attachment, and thereafter, the claw member 76engages the plug member 4734d, and the nozzle 70 comes in contact withthe plug member 4734d slightly afterward. The effect of the grooves 34pis explained below with reference to FIG. 53A to FIG. 56B.

FIG. 53A is a perspective view of how the engaging portions 34g of thetoner container 32Y align with the positioning members 31c of thetoner-container holder 31 during mounting of the toner container, andFIG. 53B is a side view of the same. FIG. 54A is a perspective view ofhow a held portion 4743Y starts to be engaged with the positioningmembers 31c and FIG. 54B is a partial cross-sectional side view of thesame. FIG. 55A is a perspective view of how the claw member 76 is pusheddown during the installation of the toner container and FIG. 55B is apartial cross-sectional side view of the same. FIG. 56A is a perspectiveview of how the claw member 76 returns to the default position so thatthe claw member 76 engages the engaging portion of the plug member 4734dduring mounting of the toner container, and FIG. 56B is a partialcross-sectional side view of the same.

In FIG. 53B which shows how the positioning member 31c faces theengaging portion 34g of the toner container 32Y when viewed from theside, it looks as if the claw member 76 touches the lower corner of theheld portion 4734Y, but actually, as shown in the perspective view ofFIG. 53A, the groove 34p prevents the claw member 76 from contacting thecorner.

Thereafter, in FIG. 54A and FIG. 54B which show how the attachment isprogressed, the claw member 76 is further moving into the grooves 34pwhile maintaining its default position to come in contact with thecorner portions 34p1 at the respective rear ends of the grooves 34p. Atthis time, the positioning members 31c already are partially engagedwith the engaging portions 34g. Therefore, even if the upward force isapplied to the positioning members 31c in this state from the clawmember 76, the held portion 4734Y is not rotated or turned obliquelyupward because of the rigidity of the positioning members 31c. However,the held portion 4734Y may rise slightly due to a gap of a fit tolerancebetween the positioning member 31c and the engaging portion 34g, butthis does not cause any trouble in the insertion operation of the nozzle70 performed afterward.

Then, as shown in FIG. 55A and FIG. 55B, the claw member 76 buttsagainst the corner portions 34p1 at the rear ends of the grooves 34p inthe entry direction of the claw member 76, and then, the claw member 76goes onto the wall surface 34c3 and slides thereon. This causes the clawmember 76 to maintain its posture such that it is pressed downward wherethe attachment of the held portion 4734Y is not obstructed.

At this time, however, the nozzle 70 does not yet contact the plugmember 4734d. Therefore, the plug member 4734d is still in the closedposition, and the protrusion portion 4734d1 and the second protrusionportions 4734d2 are also stored in the storage portions 34q.Accordingly, the claw member 76 does not push the protrusion portion4734d1 before the nozzle 70 contacts the plug member 4734d. Thus, theerroneous-operation preventing function of the storage portions 34q isfulfilled.

Lastly, as shown in FIG. 56A and FIG. 56B, the claw member 76 is engagedwith the back of the protrusion portion 4734d1 when viewed from thenozzle 70, and then, the nozzle 70 contacts the plug member 4734dslightly afterward and starts pushing so as to open the toner outlet B.In FIG. 56B, because there is a slight gap G between the edge of theclaw member 76 and the protrusion portion 4734d1 to be engaged with theclaw member 76, the edge of the nozzle 70 does not contact the plugmember 4734d by the gap G at the point in time (gap G is 0) when theedge starts to engage the protrusion portion 4734d1.

The plug member 4734d is held and fixed, at the state of FIG. 56B, bythe nozzle 70 and the claw member 76 which are components of thetoner-container holder 31, and the toner container is further pushedtherein, so that the toner outlet B and the inner cylinder portion ofthe nozzle 70 communicate with each other.

Fourteenth Embodiment

Another feature of the invention which may be applied to any of theembodiments is explained below with reference to FIGS. 57-63. FIG. 57 isa schematic of toner containers filled with toners of colors such asyellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) respectively whenviewed from the held portions 34 (Y, M, C, K) of the toner containers.As shown in FIG. 57, a convex portion (which corresponds to the convexportion 34n of the first embodiment) protruded from the side face of theheld portion 34 is different from others in the position, the shape, andthe number for each color container.

As shown in FIG. 57 which is to scale, the toner container 32K for blacktoner has one convex portion 34nk on the left side with respect to theheld portion 34K. The convex portion 34nk is set so that the protrusionin the horizontal direction is slightly longer than that of the convexportions for the other colors at the same height. As a result, the tonercontainer 32K is prevented from being inserted into the opening forinsertion of another toner container.

The toner containers 32Y, 32M, and 32C for the other three colors havetwo convex portions each. Each upper-side end face of the convexportions of the toner containers is formed so as to be in a planeconcentric with each container body of the toner containers, and eachlower-side convex portion is formed into a cuboid. The caps or heldportions are formed so that the widths of the upper-side convex portionsin the vertical direction are different from one another, and that thewidths of the lower-side convex portions in the vertical direction arealso different from one another. In other words, the height of a spacebetween the upper-side convex portion and the lower-side convex portionof one toner container is different from that of the others.

For the black toner container 32K, the single convex portion orprojection is designated by 34nK, for the yellow toner container 32Y,the two convex portions or projections are designated by 34nY1 and34nY2, for the cyan toner container 32C, the two convex portions orprojections are designated by 34nC1 and 34nC2, and for the magenta tonercontainer 32M, the two convex portions or projections are designated by34nM1 and 34nM2.

In FIG. 57, each of projections 34nM1, 34nC1, 34nY1, and 34nK have anupper and lower horizontal line. Outer ends of these upper and lowerhorizontal lines are connected with a convex line. As shown in FIG. 57,the outer edge of each of the projections 34nM1, 34C1, 34nY1, and 34nKextend further away from the center or longitudinal axis of theillustrated containers and extend further from an outer surface of thepartially cylindrical section. A profile, perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis, of each of the projections includes an upperhorizontal line including an outer end, a lower horizontal lineincluding an outer end, and a convex line which is an outer edge of theprojection connecting the outer end of the upper horizontal line withthe outer end of the lower horizontal line.

FIG. 58A is a perspective view of the held portion or cap 34K which isutilized with a container, also be referred to as a volume or bottle,which holds black toner. While a bottle has been illustrated in thefigures, other types of volumes may be utilized. For each of theembodiments and colors, the invention includes both empty tonercontainers which do not contain toner, and toner containers which arefilled with toner. While toner is the preferred substance to go in thecontainers, any desired material which is utilized to form an image on apage may be utilized including combinations including toner anddeveloper, or ink, or any other substance which can be utilized to forman image. The cap or held portions 34 are illustrated in the shape thatthey are manufactured, but it is not necessary to manufacture such aheld portion as shown. For example, the front portion of the heldportion 34K or cap may be formed on the front thereof and need not beseparately formed. Moreover, any style or manufacturing process may beused, as long as the features expressly recited in the claims areincluded.

In FIG. 58A, the held portion or cap 34K includes a notched portion 34hKthrough which a gear of a toner bottle protrudes or is accessible inorder to drive or rotate the toner bottle within the held portion orcap. There is a cylindrical portion 34wK which has the convex portion orprotrusion 34nK connected thereto. Regarding the convex portions orprotrusions, “connected thereto” covers both integral forming of theconvex portion with the held portion, or forming the convex portion orheld portion separately and attaching these two elements together, forexample through an adhesive, epoxy, bolts, lamination, attachment byheat, or screws, or any other manner.

Preventing the wrong color toner from being inserted into the imageforming device prevents the contamination of the image formingapparatus, prevents avoidable service calls, and results in properlyformed images. In this embodiment, the dimensions of the toner containerincluding the held portion 34K are set in order to prevent impropermounting by restricting the held portion 34K from passing through theimproper opening of the enclosure plate. The length of the convexportion or protrusion 34nK along the axis of rotation of the storagevolume is designated by 140K. The length between the leading edge of theconvex portion 34nK and the front of the cylindrical portion 34wK is142K. The length of the cap cover 34bK is designated by 144K. Asillustrated in FIG. 58B, the edges of the convex portion 34nK aretapered in the vertical direction in order to assist in the insertionand removal of the toner container. Further, there may be a tapering ofthe convex portion 34nK so that as the distance from the center of theprojection along the lengthwise direction increases, the distance fromthe center of the cylindrical portion decreases. For example, suchtapering may reduce the distance from the center by 1 or 2 mm.

FIG. 58C illustrates various dimensions of the front of the blackcontainer. 120K designates the diameter of the cap or held portion atthe cylindrical portion 34wK, 122K designates the width of the base,124K designates the height from the bottom of the base 34xK to thecenter of the container, also referred to as the axis of rotation. 126Kdesignates the diameter of the front of the cap, 128K is the radius fromthe axis of rotation to the center of the projection 34nK. If desired,this radius may decrease at the edges of the projection, for example, by1 mm both at the top and bottom portion of the projection, for example.130K designates the height from the base of the container to the top ofthe projection 34nK, and 132K designates the height from the bottom ofthe container base to the bottom of the projection. The thickness of theprojection (in the vertical direction) is 130K minus 132K. The variousdimensions set forth in FIGS. 58B and 58C are set forth in the belowtable.

Black Container Ref. Description No. Size (mm) diameter of cap 120K 65width of base 122K 38 height to center of container 124K 36.3 diameterof front of cap 126K 42 radius to projection 128K 43 height to top ofprojection 130K 63.5 height to bottom of project. 132K 54.5 thickness ofprojection 9 length of projection 140K 37 142K 19 144K 42.3

FIGS. 58A-58C, 59A-59C, 60A-60C, 61A-61C, 63A and 63B are drawn toscale. Therefore, any measurement not contained in any of the tables orotherwise described can be determined by appropriately measuring thedrawings.

FIG. 58D is a perspective view of the black toner container.

FIGS. 59A-59D are a cap for a cyan toner container and the cyan tonercontainer, and generally correspond to FIGS. 58A-58D and explanations ofthe same components are omitted. A difference between the cyan tonercontainer and the black toner container is that the cyan toner containerincludes two convex protrusions or projections 34nC1 and 34nC2 whereasthe black toner container includes one projection 34nK. The dimensionsfor the cyan toner container are set forth below.

Cyan Container Ref. Description No. Size (mm) diameter of cap 120C 59width of base 122C 38 height to center of container 124C 36.3 diameterof front of cap 126C 42 radius to projection 128C 40 height to top ofprojection 1 130C 64.5 height to bottom of project. 1 132C 50 thicknessof projection 1 14.5 height to top of projection 2 134C 43 height tobottom of project. 2 136C 28.5 thickness of projection 2 14.5 Distanceof outer edge of 138C 38 projection 2 from center length of 140C 37projections 142C 19 144C 42.3

FIGS. 60A-60D illustrate features of the yellow toner container and havethe dimensions as set forth below.

Yellow Container Ref Description No. Size (mm) diameter of cap 120Y 59width of base 122Y 38 height to center of container 124Y 36.3 diameterof front of cap 126Y 42 radius to projection 128Y 40 height to top ofprojection 1 130Y 64.5 height to bottom of project. 1 132Y 43 thicknessof projection 1 21.5 height to top of projection 2 134Y 36 height tobottom of project. 2 136Y 28.5 thickness of projection 2 7.5 Distance ofouter edge of 138Y 38 projection 2 from center length of 140Y 37projections 142Y 19 144Y 42.3

FIGS. 61A-61D illustrate features of the magenta toner container anddescriptions of the same portions which have already been describedabove with respect to the other toner containers are omitted. Thedimensions for the magenta toner container are as set forth below:

Magenta Container Ref. Description No. Size (men) diameter of cap 120M59 width of base 122M 38 height to center of container 124M 36.3diameter of front of cap 126M 42 radius to projection 128M 40 height totop of projection 1 130M 64.5 height to bottom of project. 1 132M 57thickness of projection 1 7.5 height to top of projection 2 134M 50height to bottom of project. 2 136M 28.5 thickness of projection 2 21.5Distance of outer 138M 38 edge of projection 2 from center length of140M 37 projections 142M 19 144M 42.3

The perspective view of the toner container set forth in FIGS. 58D, 59D,60D, and 61D may include bottles which have a substantially constantradius, or the radius may be different for different portions of thebottle.

FIG. 62A illustrates an image forming apparatus which utilizes the tonercontainers of the invention. The opening 110 at the front portion is theregion at which the toner containers are inserted into the image formingdevice 100. FIG. 62B is a close-up of the region 110 and shows the fourtoner containers 32K, 32Y, 32C, and 32M, each having a gripper 33d whichallows a user to hold the rear of the toner container during theinsertion and removal process. Also shown in FIG. 62B is a plate 910,discussed below with respect to FIGS. 63A and 63B which restricts whichcolor toner container is inserted into which position.

FIG. 63A shows a front view of the plate 910. Because the image formingapparatus 100 uses four different color toner containers, the plate 910has four openings for receiving the four different color tonercontainers, although the plate can be constructed to receive more orless toner containers, as desired.

The four openings in FIG. 63A are shown as 912K for the black container,912Y for the yellow container, 912C for the cyan container, and 912M forthe magenta. The opening 912K for the black container includes aprotrusion portion 916K for accepting the one protrusion of the blacktoner container. The opening 912K contains a substantial portion whichis circular in shape, and has a radius 914K which is designed toaccommodate the black toner container, and also serves to restrict theother toner containers. The openings for the yellow, cyan, and magentatoner containers each include two projections for receiving acorresponding projections on the toner containers. The opening 912Y forthe yellow container contains a radius of 914Y, and protrusion portions916Y1 and 916Y2. The shapes and positions of the protrusion portions ofthe openings configured to receive the cyan and magenta containers alsocontain two protrusion portions, but the size and position of thoseprotrusion portions are different for each toner container.

A perspective view of the plate 910 is shown in FIG. 63B. Depending onthe construction of the machine, the plate may have a substantially flator two-dimensional structure, or may be constructed to have athree-dimensional structure, as shown in FIG. 63B. The plate 910 shownin FIG. 63B may be mounted at the front of the image forming apparatus,as shown in FIG. 62A, and the enlargement in FIG. 62B. Alternatively oradditionally, the plate may be mounted at an interior portion of theimage forming apparatus, for example, at or near a position whichresults in the protrusions of the toner containers remaining at aninterior of the holes 912 of the plate 910 when the toner containers arein use.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the radius 914 of the holes912 in the plate 910 are 32.5 mm for the cyan, magenta, and yellowholes, and 35.5 mm for the black hole in the plate 910. Also accordingto the preferred commercial embodiment, the radius of the cyan, magenta,and yellow container body or bottle is 31.5 mm and the radius of theblack container body or bottle is 34.5 mm. Since black toner isgenerally consumed at a higher rate than the other colors, it ispreferable for the black container to hold more toner. The presentinventors have found that by setting the various dimensions of the frameto be 2 mm larger than the corresponding dimensions of the bottle and/orthe cap, the toner container can be properly inserted into itscorresponding opening in the image forming apparatus, while preventingthe wrong color toner bottle from being inserted into anon-corresponding potion. However, as long as the relative sizes of theframe openings and the toner containers appropriately prevent acontainer from being inserted at an improper position, the differencesbetween the toner container size and frame may be changed, as desired.

Various dimensions of the components of the invention have been providedherein, but those dimensions in relationships to each other are notrequired by the invention, unless specifically recited in the claims.Further, the invention includes a changing of any of the dimensions, forexample, by increasing or decreasing any of the dimensions by 5%, 10%,15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, or 35%, or any value in between, for example.Further, the dimensions and the relative relations can be changed evenmore, if desired, as long as the system functions in the desired manner.

Various dimensions and relations may be utilized in order to prevent thewrong color toner from being used in an improper position in the imageforming apparatus. For example, for the cyan, yellow, and magenta colortoner containers, there are two projections. When viewed in the verticaldirection, the thickness of the projections (reference number 130 minus132, and 134 minus 136) are configured such that a sum of a thickness ofthe two projections in the vertical direction is less than or equal to aradius of the cylindrical-shaped portion of the cap. Further, an outeredge of at least one of the projections has a minimum distance from acenter of the cylindrical-shaped portion which is greater than a largerradius of a cylindrical-shaped portion of any other toner container usedin the machine. Additionally, the container may be arranged such that adistance from the center of the cylindrical-shaped cap portion to anouter edge of each of the two projections is at least 15%, 25%, or 35%greater than the radius of the cylindrical-shaped portion. Further, forany embodiments of the invention, the invention includes both an emptytoner container, and the toner container filled with toner and/or amixture of toner and other components such as developer, agitating ormixing particles, charging particles, or any desired feature.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the projection on theexterior of the cap or held portion is configured such that a distancefrom a center of the cylindrical-shaped cap portion to an outer edge ofthe projection is at least 15% greater than a radius of acylindrical-shaped portion. Moreover, a distance from a center of thecylindrical-shaped cap portion to an outer edge of projection on the capis at least 15%, 25%, or 35% greater than a radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion. Moreover, the cap may include a secondprojection, and the distance from a center of the cylindrical-shaped capportion to an outer edge of the second projection is at least 15%greater than the radius of the cylindrical-shaped portion. Moreover, adistance from a center of the cylindrical-shaped cap portion to an outeredge of each of the two projections may be arranged to be 25% or 35%greater than the radius of the cylindrical-shaped portion.

According to another embodiment of the invention, a thickness in thevertical direction of a first projection plus the thickness in thevertical direction of a second projection for each of the threecontainers is within 30%, 20%, 10%, or is even the same as apredetermined number. Thus, while the various projections of the cyan,yellow, and magenta toner containers are different, a sum of theirthicknesses may be the same as each other, or within a predeterminedtolerance.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention, there are leasttwo toner containers used with the invention, each toner containerhaving two projections. The thickness of the projection in the verticaldirection of the first projection of the first toner containercorresponds to the thickness in the vertical direction of the second orlower projection of the second container, and the same holds true forthe upper projection of the second container and the lower projection ofthe first container. Moreover, these dimensions may vary by 30%, 20%,10%, or be set to exactly the same. Such features correspond to themagenta and yellow bottles disclosed herein.

According to yet another embodiment of the invention, the projection onthe exterior of the cap corresponds to a particular color toner and thelength of the projection along a line parallel to the axis of rotationof the toner bottle is within 25%, 15%, or 5% of a distance from theaxis of rotation to an outer edge of the projection.

According to another embodiment of the invention, the projection of thecap of the toner container is arranged such that the toner container canonly be inserted through a plate having an opening which corresponds tothe shape of the projection. Further, the opening of the platecorresponds to a circumferential shape of the container. Moreover, theremay be two projections, and these two projections correspond to theholes in the plate.

Further, the invention includes an image forming apparatus containingthe toner containers and the plate having various features as describedabove.

FIG. 64A and FIG. 64B are perspective and front views of an embodimentof the toner bottle 32Y. A bottle gear 33c, integrally molded with thebottle 32Y, is disposed near the opening of the toner bottle 32Y.Alternatively, the gear 33c may be formed separately from the bottle32Y. As shown in FIG. 64B, when viewing the toner bottle 32Y from thebottle opening side, the portion of the bottle opening which has thesmallest inner diameter is the opening (called the gear opening) 33ci atthe bottle gear 33c. As an example, if the gear 33c is set back 1.5centimeters (cm) from the opening end of the bottle 32Y, the gearopening 33ci will be set back inside of the bottle on the order of 1.5cm from the opening end of the bottle.

The toner bottle of the present embodiment is provided with two tonerguiding portions 95Y near the gear opening 33ci, and each toner guidingportion 95Y serves to move the toner from inside the toner bottle beyondthe raised portion to the toner outlet when the bottle is rotated. Thetoner guiding portion 95Y is provided in the container to cause thetoner inside the toner bottle to be moved to the toner outlet beyond thesmall-diameter portion of the bottle gear by rotation of the tonerbottle. The toner guiding portions 95Y may be manufactured in anydesired manner. For example, they may be integrally formed with thebottle or formed separately. The toner guiding portions 95Y may beformed together, and further formed to a ring which fits inside themouth of the bottle 32Y in order to securely hold the toner guidingportions 95Y.

The construction of the bottle causes the toner to be scooped upwardly.Alternatively to or in addition to the scooping, the toner may be pushedforward and upward by grooves, such as the grooves 33b. A toner guidinginner wall 950Y is near the gear opening 33ci and the wall in tonerbottle 32Y pushes out the toner, or allows the toner to slide thereonand to the toner guiding portions 95Y.

Features and descriptions of any one of the bottles shown in FIGS.64A-66 are applicable to other bottles disclosed herein. A completedescription of the reference numbers of the bottle shown in FIGS. 64Aand 64B is provided below with respect to FIGS. 65A-66.

FIG. 65A and FIG. 65B are side views of different rotationalorientations of the toner bottle 32Y. The toner guide 33b for tonerdelivery is formed by a double helix type of structure, and pushes tonertowards the bottle opening parallel to the axis of rotation of thecontainer.

It is desirable that the bottle gear 33c is formed so that its gearteeth do not project too much from the peripheral surface of the tonerbottle 32Y. This is also desirable for device miniaturization. Inaddition, it is desirable for stabilization of the toner supply that thebottle gear 33c is provided near the toner outlet. For this reason, evenif the diameter of the opening is smaller than the inner diameter of thetoner bottle 32Y in the position of the bottle gear 33c, it is desirablefor the toner to smoothly pass through the raised portion of the innerwall of the toner bottle.

From the grooves 33b, the toner is pushed to toner scoops T1 and T2,also referred to as toner conveyance devices or raised portions. Thetoner scoops T1 and T2 are raised outwardly, located at the shoulderportion of the bottle, and scoop or convey toner upwardly as thecontainer is rotated.

Toner guiding inner walls 950Y are respectively formed along on each ofinner wall surfaces of each of the raised portions T1 and T2. WhileFIGS. 64A, 65A, and 65B show reference characters 950Y, in these figures950Y is designating the outside or backside of the inner walls. Theinner walls 950Y appear, when looking into the mouth of the bottle 32Yas viewed in FIG. 64B, as inward-raised portions that are raisedinwardly when viewed from the bottle opening. With the use of the tonerguiding inner walls 950Y in the toner guide 33b, it is possible for thetoner inside the toner bottle to be moved to the toner outlet beyond thesmall-diameter portion of the bottle gear by rotation of the tonerbottle. Even when the bottle gear 33c is provided near the toner outlet,the structure disclosed above such as the toner guide, scoop, innerwalls, and/or the toner guiding portions enable the internal toner totransfer to the toner outlet beyond the gear opening 33ci by therotation of the bottle. Summarizing toner conveyance within the bottle,toner is pushed forward within the main body of the bottle by the tonerguide(s) 33b. From the end of the toner guides 33b, toner is scoopedupwardly by the scoops T1 and T2 due to the rotation of the bottle. Fromthe scoops T1 and T2, toner slides along the inner walls 950Y. From theinner walls 950Y, the toner slides to the toner guiding portions 95Ywhich convey the toner outside of the container.

FIG. 66 is a side view of a variation of the toner bottle 32Y, whenviewed from the side surface of the 32Y. In this modification, theshoulder edge of the two raised portions T1 and T2 in the shoulder unitT of toner bottle 32Y shown in FIG. 65A and FIG. 65B is beveled, and hasa sloping shoulder. Except for this sloping or beveling at the shoulderT, the bottle of FIG. 66 has the same construction as that illustratedin FIG. 64A and FIG. 64B, and a description thereof will be omitted. Thetoner bottle is not required to have the raised portion or scoops T1 andT2 as described in the above embodiments, but may alternatively oradditionally have sloping-shoulders.

FIGS. 67A-67E are an alternative bottle, container, or volume that maybe used with the invention. In FIGS. 67A-67E, 32 designates the bottle,33i is a base portion, and 33ct are tabs on the bottle. A gear may besecured to the bottle so that it rests against the base portion 33i andis secured by the tabs 33ct. Alternatively and/or additionally, the gearmay mount around the circumferential surface of the base portion 33iwhile being secured by the tabs 33ct.

FIGS. 67F(1)-67F(3) show the gear 33c which is secured to the base 33iof the bottle 32 shown in FIGS. 67A-67E. In FIGS. 67F(1)-67F(3), thegear 33c has two notches 33cn which respectively mate with the tabs 33ctof the bottle 32. The tabs 33ct snap into or interact with the notches33cn in order to secure the gear 33c to the base 33i and the bottle 32.

FIG. 67F(1) shows a bottom view of the gear 33c. The bottom of the gearis the portion of the gear which first slips over the mouth of thebottle 32Y when the gear 33c is mounted to the bottle 32Y. FIG. 67F(2)shows a cross-section view of the gear 33c along the line 67F(2)-67F(2)of FIG. 67F(1). The left side of FIG. 67F(2) is the bottom of the gear33c, and the right side is the top of the gear 33c. FIG. 67F(3) is aperspective view showing the top of the gear 33c. In FIG. 67F(3), one ofthe two notches 33cn is visible in the bottom portion of the gear.

The tabs 33ct and base portion 33i, while being part of this embodiment,are optional. Moreover, a gear such as the gear disclosed in otherembodiments may be integrally formed with the bottle which wouldeliminate the need for the base 33i and separate gear 33c, and the tabs33ct and notches 33cn which connect the gear 33c to the base 33i. Whiletwo notches 33cn and two tabs 33ct are used with this embodiment, anynumber of notches/tabs may be used. Moreover, notches and tabs are notrequired to mount the gear to the bottle/base, and any other suitableand/or conventional structure can be used to secure the gear. Forexample, a press fit, a key/notch structure, and/or screws can be usedto secure the gear to the bottle. The bottle of 67A-67E may be used withthe held portion or cap 34K, 34Y, 34M, or 34C of this invention, may beused with any type of cap, or may be used without any cap.

FIG. 68A to FIG. 68E represent another embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 68A is a perspective view of a toner bottle when viewedfrom its cap side. FIG. 68B is a perspective view of the toner bottlewhen viewed from a gripper 133d. FIG. 68C is a side view of the gripper133d. FIG. 68D is a side view of an end portion of a container bodybefore the gripper 133d is attached thereto. FIG. 68E is a perspectiveview of how toner containers are set in the main body of the imageforming apparatus at an opening 110.

The toner container according to this embodiment has the gripper 133dseparately formed from the toner bottle, as shown in FIG. 68C, and isfitted over the end portion of a container body 133 and into a groove1331, as shown in FIG. 68D. According to other embodiments of theinvention which have been explained above, the container body and thegripper are integrally formed as a single unit or component. Accordingto this embodiment, an engagement claw 1330 of the gripper 133d isfirmly engaged in the groove 1331 of the container body 133. Thecontainer body 133 and the gripper 133d may have the same color as eachother, but alternatively, the container body 133 and the gripper 133dmay have different colors in order to change the appearance of the tonercontainer. It is thereby possible to improve the recognizability of thecontainers containing different colors of toner such that an operatorcan easily recognize the toner container when the toner container set inthe main body of the image forming apparatus is replaced. In this case,by changing the color of the gripper 133d to one matching each of thetoner colors, it is possible to prevent erroneous replacement which mayoccur between different toner containers having different toner colors.

Moreover, a decal, seal, label, or other indicia 1335 (representing1335K, 1335Y, 1335C, and 1335M of FIG. 68E) indicating the color oftoner contained within the bottle may be attached to or integrallyformed on the end face of the gripper 133d (represented by 133dK, 133dY,133dC, and 133dM for the different toner bottles), as shown in FIG. 68E.The indication seal 1335 is, according to one embodiment, a round seal,preferably having the same color as the toner color within thecontainer, and, according to one embodiment, has a sign with six circlestriangularly arranged which represents toner, a letter representing atoner color (e.g., K, Y, C, or M), and “>PS<” indicating the containerbody and/or the gripper is made of polystyrene. The container body andthe gripper 133d may be made out of other types of material such as AsABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer), PP (polypropylene),cardboard, paper, or any plastic, resin or metal. The seal 1335 alsohelps enhance the effect of recognizing the toner container when thetoner container is replaced.

Various features of the invention are described in differentembodiments. However, the invention includes each feature being appliedto each and every disclosed embodiment, figure, or container.

It is obvious that the present invention is not limited by theembodiments and that the embodiments can be changed as necessary withinthe scope of the technological idea of the present invention other thanthe suggestion in the embodiments. Furthermore, each number, position,and shape of the components are not limited by the embodiments, andtherefore, these can be changed to those which are appropriate forimplementation of the present invention.

A toner container according to another embodiment is characterized inthat in the attachment operation of the above-mentioned toner containerto the toner-container holder, after the positioning is started, theopen/close member starts to open the toner outlet.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, thetoner-container holder has a nozzle communicating with the toner outlet,and that the open/close member is set as the plug member which is pushedby the nozzle in synchronization with the attachment operation to thetoner-container holder, to start opening the toner outlet, and which isbiased by the biasing member in synchronization with the detachmentoperation from the toner-container holder, to start closing the toneroutlet.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, thetoner-container holder has a positioning member for being engaged withthe held portion to position the held portion, and that after the heldportion starts to be engaged with the positioning member during theattachment operation to the toner-container holder, the nozzle starts topush the plug member.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the front end ofthe positioning member is formed so as to be located closer to the heldportion side than the front end of the nozzle with respect to the heldportion moving along the attachment direction.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that when the above-mentioned toner container moves along theattachment direction to the toner-container holder, the front end of theheld portion engaged with the positioning member is formed so as to belocated closer to the toner-container holder side than the front end ofthe plug member pushed by the nozzle.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the front end ofthe positioning member on the side where the held portion is attached istapered or chamfered.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the front end ofthe held portion on the side where the positioning member is engaged istapered or chamfered.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the above-mentioned toner container detachably attached to thetoner-container holder of the main body of the image forming apparatusincludes a container body which discharges toner contained inside thetoner container from the opening; and the held portion which dischargesthe toner, discharged from the opening of the container body, from thetoner outlet and is held by the toner-container holder in a non-rotatingmanner, and in that the held portion includes the sliding portion beingin contact with the toner-container holder and sliding.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the sliding portion of the above-mentioned toner containerslides along the toner-container holder in synchronization with theattachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holder.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the sliding portion of the above-mentioned toner container is aflat portion.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the flat portion of the above-mentioned toner container isformed so as to be parallel with the sliding face of the toner-containerholder.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the sliding portion of the above-mentioned toner container is aplurality of convex portions formed so that the convex portions have aheight contactable with a predetermined plane.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the predetermined plane of the above-mentioned toner containeris set as the sliding face of the toner-container holder.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the sliding portion of the above-mentioned toner container isprovided in the bottom of the held portion.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that when the attachment/detachment operation to/from thetoner-container holder is performed, the bottom of the held portion ofthe above-mentioned toner container is placed on the sliding face of thetoner-container holder and slides along the sliding face.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the sliding portion of the above-mentioned toner container isprovided in the side of the held portion.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the side of the held portion of the above-mentioned tonercontainer slides along the sliding face of the toner-container holderused as the side face, when the attachment/detachment operation to/fromthe toner-container holder is performed.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the held portion of the above-mentioned toner container includesa biased portion which is biased by the biasing unit of thetoner-container holder in the attachment direction while the heldportion is set in the toner-container holder, and in that the slidingportion comes in contact with the biasing unit in synchronization withthe attachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holderand slides.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the biasing unitis an arm pair which is integrally provided through a spindle andaffects force in the two directions of the rotational direction aroundthe spindle by a torsion spring.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, the sliding portion isprovided in two side portions of the held portion, and biased portionsare corner portions each being at an end of the two side portions.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, the corner portion isformed so that the round of the corner portion is smaller than the roundof a contact portion of the biasing unit coming in contact with thecorner portions.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, the sliding portion isprovided in two side portions of the held portion, and a biased portionis a plane intersecting the side portions at ends of the two sideportions.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, the sliding portion isformed so that its height is equivalent to the height of the toneroutlet.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, thetoner-container holder includes a nozzle communicating with the toneroutlet, and the held portion includes a plug member which is pushed bythe nozzle in synchronization with the attachment operation to thetoner-container holder to open the toner outlet and is biased by thebiasing member in synchronization with the detachment operation from thetoner-container holder to close the toner outlet, and during theattachment operation to the toner-container holder, after the slidingportion starts to be slid toward the biasing unit, the toner conveyingpipe starts pushing the plug member, and the biasing unit biases thebiased portion as soon as the sliding portion finishes its sliding tothe biasing unit.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, a movement distance ofthe plug member in the attachment/detachment direction associated withthe attachment/detachment operation to/from the toner-container holderis set to be shorter than a distance from the toner outlet to the biasedportion in the attachment/detachment direction.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that in the above-mentioned toner container, the held portionincludes an engaging portion being engaged with the positioning memberof the toner-container holder in synchronization with the attachmentoperation to the toner-container holder, and the engaging portion isprovided in the upper side in the vertical direction of the slidingportion and the toner outlet.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the above-mentioned toner container is attached/detached alongthe longitudinal direction of the container body.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the above-mentioned toner container is attached to thetoner-container holder based on the longitudinal direction of thecontainer body set as the horizontal direction.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that the above-mentioned toner container is attached to thetoner-container holder so that the held portion is set as a head of thecontainer body.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodyis rotatably structured and conveys the toner contained therein towardthe opening following a rotation.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodyincludes a gear which is provided on its circumferential surface and onthe side of the opening, and transmits a rotational driving force to thecontainer body.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodyincludes a spiral-shaped projection along its inner circumferentialsurface.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodyincludes a conveyor member that conveys the toner contained thereintoward the opening.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the conveyormember is a coil or a screw that is rotatably provided.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the held portioncommunicates with the container body through the opening.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodycontains toner in inside thereof.

A toner container according to still another embodiment is characterizedin that based on the above-mentioned toner container, the container bodycontains carrier in inside thereof.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a toner container detachably provided therein including acontainer body which discharges toner contained in the toner containerfrom the opening, and a held portion which discharges the tonerdischarged from the opening of the container body from the toner outlet;and also includes a holding portion which holds the held portion in anon-rotating manner; and a guide rail for guiding the held portiontoward the holding portion while rotation of the held portion isrestricted upon attachment of the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide rail includes guide edges for supporting the container body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide rail includes a guide groove for guiding part of the heldportion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the held portion includes a projected portion projected along theattachment/detachment direction so as not to overlap the projectionplane in the attachment/detachment direction of the container body, andthe projected portion is guided along the guide groove.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the projected portion has a toner outlet.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide groove is provided in the lower side in the vertical directionwith respect to the held portion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a toner supply device in which a toner container is detachablyprovided, the toner container including a container body whichdischarges toner contained in the toner container from the opening, anda held portion which discharges the toner discharged from the opening ofthe container body from the toner outlet; and also includes a holdingportion which holds the held portion in a non-rotating manner; and abiasing element for biasing the toner container toward the holdingportion in synchronization with the attachment operation of the tonercontainer.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the biasing element biases the held portion toward the holding portionin synchronization with the attachment operation of the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container includes an open/close member for opening/closingthe toner outlet in synchronization with the attachment/detachmentoperation, and during the attachment operation of the toner container,after the biasing element starts biasing, the open/close member startsto open the toner outlet.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatus isconfigured so as to affect the force in the direction of separating thetoner container from the holding portion, on the toner container beforebeing biased by the biasing unit toward the holding portion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes the second biasing element for biasing the toner container inthe direction of separating the toner container from the holding portionin synchronization with the detachment operation of the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the second biasing element biases the held portion in the direction ofseparating it from the holding portion in synchronization withdetachment operation of the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container includes an open/close member for opening/closingthe toner outlet in synchronization with the attachment/detachmentoperation, and during the detachment operation of the toner container,after the second biasing element starts biasing, the open/close memberstarts closing the toner outlet.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatus isconfigured so as to affect the force toward the holding portion, on thetoner container before being biased by the second biasing unit in thedirection of separating the toner container from the holding portion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the biasing element and the second biasing element are integrallyprovided through a spindle and are made to be an arm pair which affectsthe force in the two directions of the rotational direction around thespindle by the torsion spring.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide rail includes a sliding face along which the sliding portionof the held portion slides in synchronization with attachment/detachmentoperation of the toner container, and during the attachment operation ofthe toner container, after sliding of the sliding portion is started,the biasing element biases the held portion, and at the same timepositioning of the held portion to the holding portion is started, andthe positioning of the held portion to the holding portion is finishedas soon as the sliding of the sliding portion is finished.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide rail includes a sliding face along which the sliding portionof the held portion slides in synchronization with attachment/detachmentoperation of the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a sliding face along which the sliding portion of the heldportion slides in synchronization with attachment/detachment operationof the toner container.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,during the attachment operation of the toner container, after sliding ofthe sliding portion is started, the biasing element biases the heldportion, and at the same time positioning of the held portion to theholding portion is started, and the positioning of the held portion tothe holding portion is finished as soon as the sliding of the slidingportion is finished.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a toner container including an open/close member foropening/closing the toner outlet of the held portion; and also includesa toner conveying pipe which pushes the open/close member insynchronization with the attachment operation of the toner container tostart opening the toner outlet and which communicates with the toneroutlet.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container includes a member of exerting the force of biasingthe open/close member in the direction of resisting the direction pushedby the toner conveying pipe.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container is attached/detached along the longitudinaldirection of the container body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container is attached based on the longitudinal direction ofthe container body set as the horizontal direction.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the held portion is attached so that it becomes the head of thecontainer body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a toner container including a gear provided on the periphery ofthe container body and near the opening; and also includes a drive gearengaged with the gear to transmit a rotational driving force to thegear.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container conveys the toner contained in the container bodytoward the opening in synchronization with the rotation of the containerbody by the rotational driving force transmitted to the gear.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container has a spiral-shaped projection along the innercircumferential surface of the container body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container contains toner in the container body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner container further contains carrier in the container body.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the above-mentioned image forming apparatusincludes a toner container detachably attached to an attachment portion,the toner container including a container body having a conveyor portionfor conveying the toner contained to the opening side through rotation;and a held portion fixed to the opening of the container body andrelatively rotatable with respect to the container body, in which theheld portion has a toner outlet that forms a part of a path used forsupplying the toner contained in the container body to the main body ofthe image forming apparatus, and the attachment portion includes anengaging member engaging the toner outlet when the toner container movesalong the axial direction, and a guide rail for restricting rotation ofthe held portion during the movement.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide rail includes guide edges for supporting the container bodyand a guide groove for guiding the end face of the held portion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the held portion has a projected portion projected outwardly than theouter diameter of the container body at a cross section vertical to theaxial line of the toner container, and the projected portion is guidedby the guide groove of the guide rail.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the guide groove is formed in the lower side in the direction ofgravity.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the toner outlet is formed in the projected portion.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus,the attachment portion is located in the rear side of the main body whenviewed from the operator.

An image forming apparatus according to still another embodiment ischaracterized in that the toner container is detachably attached to thetoner-container holder of the main body of the above-mentioned imageforming apparatus.

The present invention optimizes the configuration of the toner containerset in the toner-container holder. Therefore, the present invention canprovide the toner container with high operability/workability during itsreplacement and capable of reliably reducing occurrence of toner stain,and the image forming apparatus including the same.

Although the invention has been described with respect to a specificembodiment for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims arenot to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying allmodifications and alternative constructions that may occur to oneskilled in the art that fairly fall within the basic teaching herein setforth.

What is claimed is:
 1. A storage and dispensing device for toner,comprising: a cap portion through which toner is dispensed, the capportion having at least a portion which is cylindrical-shaped; and astorage volume connected to the cap portion, a portion of the storagevolume being disposed within an interior of the cylindrical-shapedportion, and a longitudinal axis, the cap portion including: a frontportion which includes a section which is at least partially cylindricaland has a radius; a first pair of flat vertical exterior surfaces whichare parallel to the longitudinal axis of the storage and dispensingdevice, disposed below the section which is at least partiallycylindrical, the first pair of flat vertical exterior surfaces disposedon opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the storage and dispensingdevice; a second pair of flat vertical exterior surfaces which areparallel to the longitudinal axis of the storage and dispensing device,disposed below the first pair of vertical surfaces, the second pair offlat vertical exterior surfaces disposed on opposite sides of thelongitudinal axis of the storage and dispensing device; and a projectionon an exterior of the cap portion, the projection corresponding to aparticular color of toner, a thickness of the projection in a verticaldirection being less than or equal to a the radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion section which is at least partiallycylindrical, the storage and dispensing device further comprising astorage volume connected to the cap portion, a portion of the storagevolume being disposed within an interior of the section which is atleast partially cylindrical, wherein a distance from a center of thecylindrical-shaped front portion of the cap portion to an outer edge ofthe projection is at least 15% greater than a the radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion section which is at least partiallycylindrical, wherein the each flat vertical surface of the first pair offlat vertical surfaces is closer to a vertical line at a front portionof the cap portion than each flat vertical surface of the second pair offlat vertical surfaces, the vertical line being centered relative to thefront portion of the cap, wherein a profile, perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis, of the projection includes an upper horizontal lineincluding an outer end, a lower horizontal line including an outer end,and a convex line which is an outer edge of the projection connectingthe outer end of the upper horizontal line with the outer end of thelower horizontal line.
 2. The storage and dispensing device according toclaim 1, wherein: the storage and dispensing device is for use in amachine which uses at least two different color toners, and anthe outeredge of the projection has a minimum distance from a center of thecylindrical-shapedfront portion of the cap portion which is greater thana largest radius of a cylindrical-shapedfront portion of the cap portionof any other toner storage and dispensing device of the machine.
 3. Thestorage and dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein: a distancefrom a center of the cylindrical-shaped front portion of the cap portionto an the outer edge of the projection is at least 25% greater than athe radius of the cylindrical-shaped portion section which is at leastpartially cylindrical.
 4. The storage and dispensing device according toclaim 1, wherein: a distance from a center of the cylindrical-shapedfront portion of the cap portion to an the outer edge of the projectionis at least 35% greater than a the radius of the cylindrical-shapedportion section which is at least partially cylindrical, a distance froma center of the cylindrical-shaped cap portion to an outer edge of theprojection is at least 35% greater than a radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion.
 5. The storage and dispensing deviceaccording to claim 1, further comprising: toner stored with the storageand dispensing device.
 6. The storage and dispensing device according toclaim 1, further comprising: a second projection on an exterior of thecap, the second projection in combination with said projectioncorresponding to a particular color of toner, a distance from a centerof the cylindrical-shaped front portion of the cap portion to an outeredge of the second projection is at least 15% greater than a the radiusof the cylindrical-shaped portion section which is at least partiallycylindrical.
 7. The storage and dispensing device according to claim 6,wherein: a distance from a center of the cylindrical-shaped frontportion of the cap portion to an the outer edge of each of the twoprojections is at least 25% greater than a radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion section which is at least partiallycylindrical.
 8. The storage and dispensing device according to claim 6,wherein: a distance from a center of the cylindrical-shaped frontportion of the cap portion to an the outer edge of each of the twoprojections is at least 35% greater than a radius of thecylindrical-shaped portion section which is at least partiallycylindrical.
 9. The storage and dispensing device according to claim 6,wherein: a sum of thicknesses of the two projections in a verticaldirection being less than or equal to a radius of the cylindrical-shapedportion section which is at least partially cylindrical.
 10. A storagedevice for toner, comprising: a storage volume to store toner; an end,connected to the storage volume, through which toner is dispensed andincluding a front portion which includes a section which is at leastpartially cylindrical, the end including an exterior; a longitudinalaxis; a first pair of flat vertical exterior surfaces which are parallelto the longitudinal axis of the storage device, disposed below thesection which is at least partially cylindrical, the first pair of flatvertical exterior surfaces disposed on opposite sides of thelongitudinal axis; a second pair of flat vertical exterior surfaceswhich are parallel to the longitudinal axis of the storage device,disposed below the first pair of flat vertical surfaces, the second pairof flat vertical exterior surfaces disposed on opposite sides of thelongitudinal axis of the storage device; and a projection at an exteriorof the storage device, the projection corresponding to a particularcolor of toner, a thickness of the projection in a vertical directionbeing less than or equal to a distance from a center of the end to theexterior of the end, the projection including an outer edge at an outercircumferential portion thereof, the outer edge of the projection beingfurther from the longitudinal axis than an outer surface of thepartially cylindrical section is from the longitudinal axis, wherein adistance from the center of the end to the outer edge of the projectionat the outer circumferential portion is at least 15% greater than adistance from the center of the end to the outer circumferential portionwhere the projection does not exist, and wherein each flat verticalsurface of the first pair of flat vertical surfaces is closer to avertical line at the front portion of the end than each flat verticalsurface of the second pair of flat vertical surfaces, the vertical linebeing centered relative to the front portion of the end, wherein aprofile, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, of the projectionincludes an upper horizontal line including an outer end, a lowerhorizontal line including an outer end, and a convex line which is theouter edge of the projection connecting the outer end of the upperhorizontal line with the outer end of the lower horizontal line.
 11. Thestorage device according to claim 10, wherein: the storage device is foruse in a machine which uses at least two different color toners, and theouter edge of the projection has a minimum distance from the center ofthe end which is greater than a largest distance from the center of theend to the outer circumferential portion where the projection does notexist of any other toner storage device of the machine.
 12. The storagedevice according to claim 10, wherein: a distance from the center of theend to the outer edge of the projection is at least 25% greater than adistance from the center of the end to the outer circumferential portionwhere the projection does not exist.
 13. The storage device according toclaim 10, wherein: a distance from the center of the end to the outeredge of the projection is at least 35% greater than a distance from thecenter of the end to the outer circumferential portion where theprojection does not exist.
 14. The storage device according to claim 10,further comprising: toner stored within the storage device.
 15. Thestorage device according to claim 10, further comprising: a secondprojection at an exterior of the storage device, the second projectionin combination with said projection corresponding to a particular colorof toner, a distance from the center of the end to an outer edge of thesecond projection at an outer circumferential portion of the secondprojection is at least 15% greater than a distance from the center ofthe end to the outer circumferential portion where the projections donot exist, a second projection on an exterior of the end, the secondprojection in combination with said projection corresponding to aparticular color of toner, a distance from the center of the end to anouter edge of the second projection at an outer circumferential portionof the second projection is at least 15% greater than a distance fromthe center of the end to the outer circumferential portion where theprojections do not exist.
 16. The storage device according to claim 15,wherein: a distance from the center of the end to the outer edges ofeach of the two projections is at least 25% greater than a distance fromthe center of the end to the outer circumferential portion where theprojections do not exist.
 17. The storage device according to claim 15,wherein: a distance from the center of the end to the outer edges ofeach of the two projections is at least 35% greater than a distance fromthe center of the end to the outer circumferential portion where theprojections do not exist.
 18. The storage device according to claim 15,wherein: a sum of thicknesses of the two projections in a verticaldirection is less than or equal to a distance from the center of the endthe outer circumferential portion where the projections do not exist.19. The storage device according to claim 10, wherein: the end comprisesa cap.
 20. The storage device according to claim 10, wherein: a portionof the storage volume is disposed within an interior of the end.
 21. Thestorage and dispensing device according to claim 1, further comprising achip on an electronic substrate, the electronic substrate facing forwardalong the longitudinal axis of the storage and dispensing device. 22.The storage and dispensing device according to claim 21, wherein: thechip on the electronic substrate is disposed at a front of the storageand dispensing device.
 23. The storage device according to claim 10,wherein: the front portion further includes a chip on an electronicsubstrate, the electronic substrate facing forward along thelongitudinal axis of the storage device.
 24. The storage deviceaccording to claim 23, wherein: the chip on the electronic substrate isdisposed at a front of the storage device.
 25. The storage deviceaccording to claim 10, further comprising: a pair of flat horizontalsurfaces which connect the first pair of flat vertical surfaces and thesecond pair of flat vertical surfaces.
 26. The storage and dispensingdevice according to claim 1, further comprising: a pair of flathorizontal surfaces which connect the first pair of flat verticalsurfaces and the second pair of flat vertical surfaces.